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Just when the A-League Men needed a bit of a feel-good factor heading into the festive season, it goes ahead and turns on a pre-Christmas Melbourne Derby for the ages.
How badly did the competition need Saturday night’s breathtaking 1-1 draw?
After Melbourne Victory dropped a bombshell by announcing that coach Patrick Kisnorbo had walked out on the club just days before the derby, the four-time champions could have been forgiven for retreating into their shells.
As a title-winning former Melbourne City coach, Kisnorbo was never the right fit for Victory – and their parochial fan base will be glad to see the back of the former Socceroo.
But they didn’t get off to the brightest of starts in front of more than 24,000 raucous fans at AAMI Park when Victory defender Kasey Bos failed to cut out a superb ball over the top from Steven Ugarkovic, allowing erstwhile Israeli international Yonatan Cohen to burst onto the ball and sidefoot a precise finish into the top corner.
It was a baptism of fire for interim Victory coach Arthur Diles, but his side almost drew level when City goalkeeper Patrick Beach scrambled to tip a Zinedine Machach drive around the post.
And while both sides had their chances in what was a pulsating encounter, it was Beach who was at the centre of things for the equaliser – not for the first time this season.
The young goalkeeper had just pulled off an impressive stop to deny Victory substitute Bruno Fornaroli at his near post, only to grasp at thin air from the resultant corner.
The City keeper complained vociferously that he’d been fouled in the build-up to Roderick Miranda’s tap-in, but in truth it was his attempt to shove Machach out of the way that put him off balance.
It hasn’t been a happy few weeks for the 21-year-old shot-stopper, even if he pulled off a series of impressive saves in the derby.
And it was City who eventually shut up shop and tried to protect their point as Victory surged forward – led by their pathologically obsessed former City striker Fornaroli.
The 37-year-old could have won it at the death after going around Beach in stoppage time, only to see the ball scrambled away.
So what did we learn from the derby? Not a lot that hasn’t already been discussed countless times before.
The first is a simple one: put a decent crowd inside an A-League stadium and the intensity of the football lifts noticeably.
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So does the broadcast coverage. Robbie Thomson and Andy Harper were terrific in commentary and expertly set the scene of a genuine Christmas classic.
But the coverage was great on Friday night too when Sydney FC came from two-goals down with barely a minute left on the clock to register a 3-3 draw with Adelaide United.
Reds coach Carl Veart was so incensed by the comeback he actually managed to shout down Stefan Mauk into stunned silence – quite possibly for the first time in Mauk’s long career.
But the clash was another superb advertisement for the league in front of almost 12,000 fans at a packed Coopers Stadium.
If only we could have a few more games like it every weekend.
Western Sydney’s 4-1 win over Wellington Phoenix on Sunday afternoon was perhaps the most impressive performance of the round, but it’s hard to watch those Sunday fixtures with so many empty seats staring you in the face.
Hopefully there’s a reasonable turn-out in Campbelltown tonight when Macarthur host the Central Coast Mariners in the final game before Christmas.
Speaking of which, it would be remiss of me not to wish you all a Merry Christmas and cracking schedule of festive-season fixtures.
Here’s hoping 2025 sees a resurgence for the A-League Men’s competition.
The league needs a boost. A few more games like the Melbourne Derby and we might just have one.