Melbourne City head coach Rado Vidosic says he’s glad the postponed Melbourne Derby has finally reached its conclusion after his side defeated Melbourne Victory 2-1 in the fixture’s restart at AAMI Park on Wednesday night.
The Round 8 derby on December 17 was abandoned after just 21 minutes when fans stormed the AAMI Park pitch.
Aiden O’Neill, who scored in the 11th minute in the original game, added another cracking goal – officially 46 minutes after his first, but really more than 157,000 minutes later – to lead City to a unique Isuzu UTE A-League win.
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“So what, Aiden was man of the match, and he scored two goals three months apart? There you go – world record,” City coach Rado Vidosic said.
“Absolutely the most bizarre (match I’ve been involved in).
“We knew that it (was going to) happen but I think after the game against the Jets (on Sunday) then we started really thinking hard ‘what are we doing? We don’t really need this.’
“But I’m glad it’s over – so let’s put this to bed.”
City goalkeeper Tom Glover suffered concussion and facial lacerations when hit with a metal bucket in the initial fixture in December.
Referee Alex King, who also officiated on Wednesday, was also injured while a television cameraman was hurt when struck by a flare.
Crowd restrictions and $550,000 in financial sanctions were among the Football Australia punishments.
A suspended 10-point deduction, which may be triggered for each instance of serious supporter misconduct until the end of the 2025-26 season, still hangs over Victory’s head.
Wednesday’s match resumed with the clock on 21 minutes – and City leading 1-0 courtesy of O’Neill’s first goal – via a ball drop to Glover.
“You feel like you’re getting over the worst part of everything that happened, then you get reminded a bit again tonight,” Victory coach Tony Popovic said.
“I think we would have been all reminded less had the game started at zero (minutes) at 0-0.
“It’s very hard to try and tell someone that it’s just a game of football when you kick off with a drop ball and it’s 21 minutes, 1-0.
“I still feel that’s when the game should have started if we played – that was in the regulations but obviously another decision was made and we’ve had to carry it.
“So now hopefully, finally, we all move on from that.”
Victory made seven changes to their original team while City made two. The Victory fans who turned up booed an unfazed Glover.
“Tom is a very tough guy …. he was not shaken or anything like that,” Vidosic said.
“(The jeering was) nothing that hasn’t happened earlier – supporters are always going to boo someone. Now it’s his turn, so it’s normal.”
City struck when O’Neill dispossessed Josh Brillante, played a quick one-two with Valon Berisha then powered a strike past Paul Izzo.
Victory scored when recruit Bruce Kamau teed up Nishan Velupillay in the 89th minute.
The win gave City a five-point buffer at the top of the table while Victory are four points outside the top six.
