Melbourne Victory and A-League leaders Melbourne City played out a 1-1 draw on Sunday as the home team end the season with 19 points, one point ahead of Newcastle Jets.
In a game that saw both slides record a total of 29 attempts—nine on target—no team could take home all three points as both had to settle for a point.
The home team entered the game with the hope of avoiding a defeat to give them a chance of avoiding a bottom-place finish, while the visitors who have already sealed first place were looking to win this game and make it three wins in all three derbies in a season for the first time.
However, it was the Premiers Plate winners who started the more hungry of both teams, dominating their hosts and creating chance after chance in the early stages. Despite their dominance and good passing, they could not find a way past Matt Acton in the Victory goal. The 29-year-old pulled out several saves to deny Marco Tilio twice in as many minutes and then Aiden O’Neill before the close of the first half.
The impressive Ben Folami produced the host’s best chance of the first half, running the entire length of the pitch while holding up two City players before squaring for Callum McManaman. But the striker’s shot from the edge of the box missed the right side of Glover’s goal by an inch as both sides entered the break level.
However, 14 minutes after the restart, the visitors found the breakthrough when Nicholas Ansell diverted the ball into his own net while trying to clear Naoki Tsubaki’s cross into the box.
The hosts had several opportunities to equalise but were guilty of some iffy finishing. And when they could get their shots on target, they were denied by Glover in the City goal.
The city thought that they had sealed their win in the 93rd minute when Scott Galloway converted following a Ben Garuccio through ball, but VAR deemed that the former was in an offside position.
There was more time for drama in the game, with the hosts equalising right at the end of the game when Lleyton Brooks hammered home after the ball fell to him in the box following a goalmouth scramble.
The result means Victory will have to wait for City’s game against bottom-placed Newcastle Jets to know if they will avoid their first-ever wooden spoon this season.
