Western United have won their first derby after fighting back for a 3-2 win against Melbourne Victory at Marvel Stadium.
If Western playing their second cross-town rival in two weeks was not scary enough, Victory showed their new enemy who the original side in Melbourne was with two goals within the first seven minutes.
Ola Toivonen was the first to score for Victory as the midfield took control of the ball to score from 20 yards out.
One minute later, Toivonen became the man to assist as he handled the ball and set up a path for Kristijan Dobras whose shot was targeted perfectly into the bottom left corner of the net.
Western looked eager to half the early deficit with a curling free kick from Alessandro Diamanti but Lawrence Thomas was well prepared for the save.
A challenge by Connor Pain against Elvis Kamsoba saw him written up by the referee minutes later.
What a start, Kiki Dobras doubles the lead! #MVCvWUN #ALeague @FOXFOOTBALL pic.twitter.com/S9GhASYByr
— Melbourne Victory (@gomvfc) November 2, 2019
A ball into the box cleared into the path of Diamanti, his shot was this time on target and he scored his first goal for Western to halve the deficit 2-1.
Confusion in the 29th minute waited for confirmation as to whether Besart Berisha was the man who weaved the ball through the Victory defenders or if the ball had come off James Donachie.
The goal was revised and registered as an own goal against the Victory defender to level the score 2-2.
Chances followed for both sides with Scott McDonald striking the ball low range to hit the post, shortly followed by an attempt from Victory with Brandon Lauton – who celebrated his first A-League start – missing the target.
With one minute of added time, neither team found the result to break the deadlock going into half time 2-2.
A cut back from Panagiotis Kone to McDonald allowed him to utilise space and fire home a deflective shot in the 51st minute, United taking a 3-2 lead for the first time in the match.
Toivonen and Dobras received medical attention after sustaining knocks in play, with the risk of injury being too much for Dobras, being subbed off for Kenjok Athiu.
A header off target sees Victory fail to score the equaliser again this time by Athiu, and again with teams matching scoring opportunities, saw Berisha left with a one-on-one with Donachie who does well to defend.
Victory could not find the equaliser they were looking for in the second half, going down to Western 3-2.
Melbourne Victory: 2 (Toivonen 6’, Dobras 7’)
Western United: 3 (Diamanti 16, Donachie 29’, McDonald 51’)
Marvel Stadium
Attendance: 20,865
Referee: Alierza Faghani
Assistant Referees: David Walsh, George Lakrindis
Fourth Official: Lachlan Keevers
Melbourne Victory: Lawrence THOMAS (GK), Storm ROUX, James DONACHIE, Leigh BROXHAM, Ola TOIVONEN (C), Thomas DENG, Elvis KAMSOBA, Migjen BASHA, Adama TRAORE (Corey BROWN 85’), Kristijan DOBRAS (Kenjok ATHIU 67’), Brandon LAUTON (Jakob POULSEN 79’).
Unused subs: Brendan WHITE (GK), Joshua HOPE, Benjamin CARRIGAN, Anthony LESIOTIS.
Western United: Filip KURTO (GK), Andrew DURANTE, Connor CHAPMAN, Panagiotis KONE, Scott MCDONALD (Max BURGESS 79’), Connor PAIN, Dario JERTEC, Besart BERISHA (Dylan PIERIAS 89’), Joshua RISDON, Ersan GULUM, Alessandro DIAMANTI (C) (Aaron CALVER 90 + 2′)
Unused subs: James DELIANOV (GK), Brendan HAMILL, Ivan VUJICA, Kwabena Appiah-Kubi.
Feature Image Credit: Western United
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