Melbourne City defender Kai Trewin scored a 70th-minute penalty to earn his side a comeback point in a 2-2 Derby draw against Isuzu UTE A-League rivals Melbourne Victory at AAMI Park on Saturday night.
City took an early lead through Socceroo Marco Tilio but were pegged back before the break, as Zinedine Machach converted from the penalty spot in the seventh minute of stoppage time after a VAR review of a German Ferreyra challenge on Nikos Vergos.
Victory scored three minutes after half-time through Clarismario Santos to take a 2-1 lead but conceded a penalty of their own midway through the second half; City defender Trewin took on penalty-taking duties and made no mistake from the spot, sending Victory keeper Mitch Langerak the wrong way to equalise at 2-2.
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City had two big chances late on to snatch all three points but couldn’t find the all-important match-winner as the game ended with both sides taking one point home from AAMI Park.
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City struck first in the Melbourne Derby through Tilio who buried a clinical strike past Langerak after Mathew Leckie showed intelligence to let the ball run past him in the middle of the box, drawing Victory players toward him to open up space for Tilio to finish.
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Youngsters Max Caputo and Kavian Rahmani threatened to double City’s advantage but both players were thwarted by Langerak as the experienced Socceroos gloveman kept his side in the contest.
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Trailing 1-0 deep into first-half stoppage time, Victory found a way back into the game when Ferreyra collected Vergos in the back of the calf with an attempted clearance, after the Victory striker nicked in ahead of the City centre-back in the box.
Referee Jonathan Barreiro elected not to award the penalty but was instructed by VAR to review the incident via the pitchside monitor. Having taken a second look, Barreiro returned to the field of play to reverse his decision, as Machach stepped up to the spot to blast Victory back on level terms in the seventh minute of first-half stoppage time.
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Buoyed by their impressive end to the first half, Victory sprung out of the blocks after the break and, just three minutes after the restart, took control of the Derby through Santos who played a one-two with Jordi Valadon to create space in the box to find the bottom-left corner.
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A flashpoint between City midfielder Andreas Kuen and Victory captain Roderick Miranda turned up the heat at AAMI Park and with both players receiving yellow cards – and having added to the Derby tension, both Kuen and Miranda played key roles in the next big moment of the game.
Having gone from leading 1-0 to trailing 2-1, City restored parity from the penalty spot in the 70th minute after Miranda fouled City captain Aziz Behich inside the box.
Behich was played into the penalty area by Kuen whose inventive backheel opened up space for Behich to drive into and lure Miranda into the challenge.
Young City defender Trewin was the surprise penalty taker but the 23-year-old produced the goods, with his equalising spot kick ultimately earning City a point in the 2-2 draw.
