Many felt there would be goals and they were correct, Melbourne City defeating Western Sydney 3-2 on a Saturday night spectacle.
On a cool Melbourne night at AAMI Park it finished with rapturous applause from the City fans after an absolute thriller.
It was all Melbourne City in the first half as they stunned the in-form Western Sydney Wanderers. Bruno Fornaroli almost opened the scoring after only five minutes, putting it wide of the goal.
Three minutes later a direct freekick was given against Nikolai Topor-Stanley.
Harry Novillo stepped up and capitalised to open the scoring and a questionable attempt to save the ball by Andrew Redmayne led to a 1-0 scoreline in the 8th minute.
City were dominating play and once again golden boy Aaron Mooy was central to the figure as he released Fornaroli on a counter attack. Fornaroli beautifully placed the ball past Redmayne to double the lead.
A through ball by Mark Bridge saw Mitch Nichols score against the run of play to pull it back 2-1, calmly slotting past City’s Thomas Sorenson.
The red and white of Melbourne continued to dominate the first half. Mooy had a chance after a poor goal kick but forced a stunning save from Redmayne. With eight minutes left in the first term, Fornaroli attempted to convert the goal of the season with a bicycle kick that went wide.
The second half saw a cagey opening but eventually a momentum shift in Western Sydney’s way an another error from City created the equaliser.
Aaron Hughes failed to properly cut out Romeo Castelen’s cross and ultimately landed in his own net to make it 2-2 after an hour played.
One minute later Bridge’s ball to Castelen saw him clean through on goal but Sorensen managed to redeem himself with a great save.
The Wanderers would surge to dominate play with City only just managing to weather the storm.
Sorensen’s services were needed again, a double save, initially a shot from Castelen and subsequently from Bridge were both kept out by the Danish keeper.
It felt like it would be the Wanderers’ night as Gol Gol Mehbratu only had Sorensen to beat but was forced wide and his shot was low and soft, Sorensen making a diving stop to save it.
The extraordinary match would end in a blockbuster finish. With five minutes remaining, Mooy teed up Novillo who shot from just outside the box to send pandemonium around the stadium making it 3-2 to Melbourne City.
Melbourne City: 1. SORENSEN Thomas, 3 HUGHES Aaron (73’ 16. TRIFIRO Jason), PAARTALU Erik, MOOY Aaron, 9. NOVILLO Harry, 18. RETRE Paulo , 19. GARUCCIO Benjamin (58’ 11. ZULLO Michael), 22. CLISBY Jack, 23. FORNAROLI Bruno, 24. KISNORBO Patrick, 25. MELLING Jacob (68’ 15. WILLIAMS David)
Western Sydney Wanderers: 20. REDMAYNE Andrew, 3. JAMIESON Scott, 4. TOPOR-STANLEY Nikolai, 6. NICHOLLS Mitch, 8. DELGADO Dimas, 9. PIOVACCARI Federico (58’ 7. CASTELEN Romeo), 10. VIDOSIC Dario (76’ 14. MEHBRATU Gol Gol), 17. AGUILAR Alberto, 18. ANDREU, 19.BRIDGE Mark, 21. PEPPER Jacob
Referee: Jarred Gillet
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