More than 100 days after pitch-invading Melbourne Victory fans delivered one of Australian football’s darkest nights, Melbourne City claimed a 2-1 win in the bizarre resumption and completion of their abandoned Melbourne derby.
Aiden O’Neill, who scored in the 11th minute in the original abandoned game, added another cracking goal -– officially 46 minutes after his first, but really more than 157,000 minutes later – to help City to a unique A-League Men’s win.
The round-eight derby on December 17 was abandoned after just 21 minutes when Victory fans violently stormed the AAMI Park pitch.
City goalkeeper Tom Glover suffered concussion and facial lacerations when hit with a metal bucket.
Referee Alex King was also injured while a television cameraman was hurt when struck by a flare.
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The pitch invasion cast a shadow over the Victory’s season, with $550,000 in fines and crowd restrictions among the Football Australia sanctions imposed on the club.
As of January 25, Victoria Police have identified 46 people as part of the investigation into the pitch invasion.
Meanwhile 35 were charged with a range of offences, including assault, violent disorder, criminal damage, riotous behaviour and discharging missiles.
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The match restarted with the clock on 21 minutes – and City leading 1-0 courtesy of O’Neill’s first goal – via a ball drop to Glover.
Both teams could field any registered players and Victory made seven changes to their original team, while City made two.
If others wanted to forget the nasty scenes involving Glover, the Victory active fans who turned up – perched to one side of the north end goal due to restrictions – seemingly didn’t.
The vocal group booed Glover and chanted “you got smashed by a bucket” before the game and the first time he took possession.
Glover was called into action in the 29th minute when Bruno Fornaroli’s fierce low strike forced him into a cracking diving save.
Victory counterpart Paul Izzo made top back-to-back saves in the 34th, denying a fierce Valon Berisha strike before tipping the subsequent deflected corner over the bar.
Berisha cleared the ball off the line in the 50th minute to deny Connor Chapman and City struck seven minutes later.
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O’Neill pinched the ball off Josh Brillante, played a quick one-two with Berisha then powered a strike past Paul Izzo.
Victory dragged a goal back when recruit Bruce Kamau teed up Nishan Velupillay in the 89th minute.
Lleyton Brooks blasted over the bar late while a Kamau corner – the Victory’s final roll of the dice – landed fittingly in the arms of Glover.
The win gave City a five-point buffer at the top of the table while Victory are four points outside the top six.
-AAP
