A-League: Fans evacuated from Melbourne derby; players’ tempers boil over in on-field fireworks display
Fire trucks were on-scene at AAMI Park as parts of the stadium were evacuated during the Melbourne Derby, while there were sparks on the field between Melbourne Victory and City.
A-League
Don't miss out on the headlines from A-League. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Melbourne Victory have missed a chance to provisionally move up to second on the A-League Men ladder after settling for a 0-0 draw against cross-town rivals Melbourne City in their 42nd local derby at AAMI Park on Saturday night.
Victory have now drawn five of their last six matches, and have registered 10 stalemates from 17 outings so far this season. They should finish the round in fourth spot, but could slip to fifth after their winless run entered a sixth game.
Meanwhile, City could now drop to eighth, after managing just four points from a possible 18 in their last six matches, and look set to be without Scott Galloway against Sydney FC next week after he was subbed out with what looked like a calf injury in the 56th minute.
Victory were the more dominant team with almost triple City’s shots on goal (17-6) and double the shots on target (6-3), while they had more possession (54 per cent) and corners (6-2) as well, but they could not find a way past City goalkeeper Jamie Young.
FALSE ALARM, FEW FIREWORKS
After a brief delay due to an emergency fire evacuation drill, which saw some supporters exit the stadium and prompted three or four fire trucks to attend the scene, it turned out to be a false alarm and the second half got underway, but it was far less eventful than the first.
Fans had to wait until the 70th minute to see some fireworks, but they had nothing to do with goalscoring opportunities.
Tempers boiled over when Marin Jakolis clashed with Geria, prompting Jakolis to kick out at Geria before leaning in and pushing his head into Geria’s face. The encounter resulted in both players receiving yellow cards, but Jakolis was lucky to avoid a red for his antics.
The match came alive again in the 81st minute when Ugarkoivc passed it brilliantly to Jakolis who delivered a superb through ball to Terry Antonis charging towards goal. But Antonis’ attempt from 12 yards out was saved excellently by Izzo.
A minute later Antonis turned provider when he executed a spectacular switch to Leo Natel on the left, but the Brazilian’s shot from 15 yards out sailed harmlessly past the right post after ignoring Maclaren by himself in the middle.
Jake Brimmer had one last chance to win it for Victory in the fourth minute of stoppage time with a powerful ping from 15 yards out which stung Young’s gloves, but the City keeper collected the ball at his second attempt and maintained his clean sheet.
Victory exploited their field position and peppered the goalface with multiple shots late, but hardly any of them seriously troubled Young, and they were left to rue yet another would-be win that went begging.
SPECTACULAR START
An action-packed start to the match saw Zinedine Machach receive a yellow card in just the fifth minute for cynically pulling Mathew Leckie to the ground as the City marksman charged into open space in the middle of the ground.
Three minutes later, Machach’s panicked action in Leckie’s presence was validated as James Jeggo headed it to Leckie, who cleverly chipped it over Connor Chapman, ran into the area, engaged in one-two with Jamie Maclaren and unloaded a magnificent attempt from 17 yards out that had a flat-footed Victory goalkeeper Paul Izzo beaten.
But unfortunately for Leckie, the shot banged into the right post and Steven Ugarkovic’s long-range follow-up was collected by Izzo.
In the 10th minute, Victory had their first big chance when Daniel Arzani’s magnificent through ball found Jason Geria who blasted away from six yards out on a slight angle on the left, but he also fired it into the upright.
Victory came agonisingly close to grabbing the lead in the 29th minute when Young spilt a regulation catch from Arzani’s corner. Machach pounced in the ensuing scramble, but Curtis Good was there on the last line for City to clear the Frenchman’s attempt from a few yards out.
Five minutes later, Arzani elegantly danced around Marco Tilio on the left, sprinted into the area, cut inside Callum Talbot and fired from 10 yards out, but Young was equal to the task this time and produced a magnificent save to deny Arzani.
In the first minute of first-half stoppage time, Tilio almost broke the deadlock when he accepted a lovely pass from Andrew Nabbout, cut inside Jason Geria and unleashed a cracker from 16 yards out on the right which required a desperate fingertip save from Izzo that deflected it onto the crossbar and out for a corner.