Besart
Berisha has denied Melbourne City's stirring comeback in the Melbourne derby,
giving Melbourne Victory a last-gasp 3-2 win to kickstart their A-League
season.
The Albanian
was on hand to tap in Connor Pain's cross during the last minute of regular
time, saving their blushes after letting slip a two-goal lead.
Victory were
strolling to success at 2-0 with more than an hour gone, with Fahid Ben
Khalfallah's deflected first-half opener and Kosta Barbarouses' header after
the break putting the champions on course for a first win of the new season.
But City set
up a pulsating finale with two goals in three minutes, with the first conjured
out of nothing by forward Bruno Fornaroli.
The tricky
Uruguayan wriggled free of marker Matthieu Delpierre to find a reply before
Aaron Mooy's invention put City back on terms.
The
Socceroo's lofted ball over the top of the Victory defence was inch perfect,
allowing Stefan Mauk a one-on-one chance he buried past Danny Vukovic.
Even injured
Victory forward Archie Thompson applauded the effort, tweeting "Got to say
what a ball Mooy".
As usual,
City's best moments involved Mooy, who was the game's best midfielder despite
close attention from Victory's Carl Valeri.
But in front
of a rowdy but well behaved crowd of 40,217, Victory hitman Berisha was not to
be denied, scoring his sixth goal in five games against City to give Victory a
first win of the new campaign.
The match
started at a more tepid pace than it finished, with Daniel Georgievski's fine
lead-up work starting the scoring.
After 23
minutes, Georgievski won the ball for Victory, running clear and passing inside
for Berisha.
Berisha cut
the ball back - not for the first time in the match - with a neat flick that
found Ben Khalfallah, who steadied and shot from just outside the box, with
Paulo Retre's trailing boot deflecting the ball past Thomas Sorenson.
The goal was
classic Victory; attacking with pace and finding a way to goal through
combination work across the forward line.
The Tunisian
set up Victory's second with a lofted cross to the back post where Barbarouses
headed past sleeping marker Jack Clisby.
The
responses from Fornaroli and Mauk brought a grandstand finish but it was the
champions who confirmed their place as Melbourne's dominant team, securing
their fourth win in their past five derbies.
Victory boss
Kevin Muscat paid tribute to the "outstanding" Berisha and
18-year-old defender Thomas Deng, who looked composed on his full A-League
debut.
He said the
momentum swings were typical of the derby but the right team ended up on top.
"That's
the beauty of these games," Muscat said.
"It was
an outstanding night for entertainment ... (but) it would have been a shame not
to send (Victory fans) home happy."
Defeated
City coach John van 't Schip lamented his team's inability to hold out to the
death.
"In the
first half we were not playing at our level, we had too much respect."
"You
want to take a point at least ... coming back from 2-0."
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