2 weeks Ago By Anna Harrington
Melbourne Victory have beaten Melbourne City 3-1 to give coach Patrick Kisnorbo his maiden win in charge and bragging rights in his first A-League Men derby against his former club. Former City captain and coach Kisnorbo's decision to start recruit Nikos Vergos ahead of Bruno Fornaroli paid off as the Greek striker snared a goal and an assist within the opening 12 minutes. The superb Ryan Teague charged down City goalkeeper Patrick Beach for Victory's third in the 25th minute in front of 20,093 fans at AAMI Park on Saturday night.
City skipper Aziz Behich was lucky not to receive any card for an apparent stamp on Vergos late in the first half. Andrew Nabbout tapped home in the 64th minute to give City some hope before Victory held on. As expected, City coach Aurelio Vidmar didn't rush back Socceroo Mathew Leckie from injury.
But Vidmar's makeshift midfield pairing of Nathaniel Atkinson and Kai Trewin was well-beaten as Teague ran riot. The game exploded when Vergos slipped through Nishan Velupillay in the fifth minute. The Socceroo burst forward, shrugged off Behich and coolly finished across his body.
Seven minutes later, Reno Piscopo went on a spellbinding run before cutting back for Vergos to finish first-time. Victory almost made it 3-0 in the 20th minute when Zinedine Machach's shot deflected off City defender Samuel Souprayen and wrong-footed Beach. But referee Alex King chalked the goal off for a handball by Teague after a VAR review.
Five minutes later, Teague charged down Beach's attempt to play out from the back to deflect the ball into goal. Then, City settled into the game, with Callum Talbot forcing a big save from Jack Duncan late. Vidmar turned to substitutes Zane Schreiber and Andreas Kuen and shuffled Atkinson back to right-back and City ramped up pressure.
Israeli winger Yonatan Cohen, who received boos from some of the Victory fans whenever he touched the ball, sparked the game when his long-range shot forced Duncan to parry to a waiting Nabbout. Shortly after, Kisnorbo turned to Daniel Arzani off the bench for his first game of the season. Arzani was suspended for round one, the reason Kisnorbo gave for leaving him out of the Victory's Australia Cup final loss to Macarthur FC.
Duncan brilliantly denied Arion Sulemani late as Victory saw out the game. Kisnorbo's side host the Bulls next Sunday while City play Western United the following evening..
