Victory stun City with last-minute draw in Melbourne derby

A Lleyton Brooks goal in the dying stages of Sunday afternoon’s derby locked Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory up at 1-all.

Brooks was the man of the hour for Victory fans. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Lleyton Brooks has momentarily saved Melbourne Victory from being condemned to their first-ever A-League wooden spoon, rescuing a 1-1 draw against rivals Melbourne City.

Played behind closed doors, City seemed poised to come away with all three points after Nick Ansell’s own-goal and had a second disallowed only moments before Brooks’ equaliser as Anthony Lesiotis’ tap-in was ruled offside.

The Victory youngster saved their blushes with essentially the last kick of the game – volleying home in a desperate goal-line scramble and capping off a much improved performance from the previous Derby demolitions.

Brooks’ late equaliser also means City won’t win all three Melbourne Derby’s in a single-season for the first time in their club’s history.

Despite the point, Victory can still finish bottom of the league should the Jets not lose against City in their last game of the season next week.

“I think the only thing we can put a gauge on is seeing where we were last game when we played against City,” Caretaker boss Steve Kean said post-game.

“We’ve scored 16 goals; we’ve conceded 18 goals since we last played them, we are a lot tighter defensively and we are always in games,

“We’ve given it a good go in the last few games and I have always said I think we should have more points but I think against a very good side today we showed we can stay in games and that’s credit to the players.”

The two sides couldn’t be separated. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

City coach Patrick Kisnorbo will also use that final game to have a look at his squad heading into finals as they gear-up for a home semi in two-weeks’ time.

Kisnorbo shuffled the deck in what was yet another dress rehearsal for his side before finals.

Marco Tilio again shone leading the line, while 17-year-old Raphael Borges Rodrigues dazzled in his first A-League start on the left wing in place of Craig Noone, who missed with soreness.

Naoki Tsubaki, who also got another chance with Andrew Nabbout still missing with injury played a hand in the own-goal as his cross deflected in off Ansell.

“Sometimes you need to take the result away and look at the ninety minutes as a game,” Kisnorbo said post-game.

“Okay, you’re disappointed with conceding in the last second but I was really pleased with some things that happened tonight,

“Again, we will work to continue to get better at it, young Rapha (Borges Rodrigues) played really well, 15-year-old Max Caputo came on so these are the positives of tonight plus the way we played.”

However, despite rescuing a point, it caps off Victory’s worst-ever campaign as they look ahead to the Tony Popovic era.

Caretaker boss Steve Kean will officially hand the keys to incoming coach Tony Popovic after their FFA Cup playoff against either Perth or Western United next week as the latter faces the task of restoring a once dominant force to their lofty heights of seasons prior.

With players fighting for their futures at the club, there was a much greater effort among the Victory side which has lacked throughout the season, as the likes of Matt Acton and Ben Folami impressed again.

Out of contract foreigners Rudy Gestede and Jacob Butterfield were among the contingency playing for their futures but the former in particular squandered two chances from point-blank range.

Youngsters Nishan Velipullay and Brooks again impressed in their limited minutes – putting themselves right in contention to play a role in the Popovic era.

However, for some their futures may have already been decided with Popovic already putting his stamp on the squad he hopes to inherit next season – informing certain members of their futures at the club.