Maclaren is right it’s a point gained, but it’s also two lost given the amount of time City had an extra man. They played some nice football in parts, but lacked the nous to break down a resolute Victory defence and a cutting edge to find the back of the net. When they did find a way past Thomas in goal, on two occasions, they were denied by the woodwork. It wasn’t to be their night. Warren Joyce may well be trying to shut out the noise over his job, but it will get even louder after this result. For Victory, you have to give them credit for fighting back after Neidermeier’s moment of madness, but a point surely isn’t enough for them to sustain a challenge for the premiers’ plate. Indeed, the big winners tonight are Perth Glory, who now seem a sure-fire bet to finish top.
That’s all from me. Let’s file that one away under “forgettable derbies”. Until next time.
Warren Joyce: “We’ve come here wanting to win the game. The only pressure on me is the pressure you put on yourself. [The sending off] disrupted our play and press. [Barbarouses’ goal] is not really a shot. I just think he’s hit it as hard as he can.”
Thomas Deng: “We’re pretty satisfied. We started well. Georg [Niedermeier] was a big loss for us. But the boys dug deep. We needed to move on [from the sending off] and that’s what we did. We were pretty comfortable and didn’t feel stretched by them.”
Jamie Maclaren: “On a personal side you’re happy to put in a goal. It’s disappointing we didn’t create more chances. They only had one shot on goal. But it’s a point gained.”
89 mins: Thomas is quick off his line here, to punch clear another cross into the Victory box. And then noise levels are raised as Toivonen is encouraged to run onto a long ball forward at the other end. Galekovic ventures outside his box to deal with it though.
87 mins: Jamieson swings over yet another cross, but again there’s no one on the end of it. As Thomas ambles about before taking the goal kick, he’s shown yellow.
86 mins: Deng’s header clear isn’t comprehensive and Jamieson picks up the ball before swinging in a cross that gives Thomas a moment of doubt before it lands behind for a goal kick.
Bozza’s F-bomb still the highlight of this #MelbDerby, so far 😝
82 mins: Victory have about a minute of possession before City win the ball back and begin to build from the back once again. To their credit, they haven’t stopped playing the ball about or resorted to long ball tactics. Trouble is, that approach hasn’t helped them so far.
80 mins: But moments later Vidosic has the chance to become City’s hero with his first touch as the ball breaks for him but he blazes high over the bar! What an introduction that would have been!
76 mins: City are building patiently, but with no end product at the moment. Berenguer is hauled off, and here comes McGree. At the same time, Victory bring off Honda for Storm Roux. Clearly, Honda’s not ready for a full 90 minutes on his return from injury.
67 mins: Jamieson sees a cross blocked by Broxham as City struggle to unlock the Victory defence. Moments later the ball falls kindly to Griffiths, who attempts a snap shot with little backlift. Wide of the mark.
64 mins: Brattan plays a lovely ball through for Maclaren to run onto... he gets around his defender but it’s too narrow an angle to really test Thomas, who turns behind for a corner. No, the flag was up anyway.
63 mins: City are looking a great deal more composed in possession now. They’re slowing but surely recovering from the hammer blow of Barbarouses’ goal.
62 mins: Oooh! Brattan off the bar! He crashes a beautiful curler from the edge of the box against the woodwork, with Thomas flailing! So close to a second for City.
59 mins: City are beginning to compose themselves now though, and play the ball around a bit more. Harrison makes the wrong decision though, and the momentum is sucked out of an impressive move when his pass goes out of play.
55 mins: Pinball in the Victory box! Berenguer’s ball in causes confusion, it hits Harrison on the face and panic ensues! But the home side survive and we’re still on level terms.
53 mins: Barbarouses’s goal was Victory’s first shot of the night. And even labelling it as a shot might be generous – it looked like he was trying to find Toivonen in the middle.
52 mins: How City might now be rueing those missed chances in the first half. Victory are in the ascendency now, with the wind in their sails, despite their numerical disadvantage.
51 mins: What on earth did Muscat say at half-time? Replays show that earlier handball shout wouldn’t have been a pen, by the way. It matters not now though.
50 mins: Barbarouses levels things up! Honda plays him in on the Victory right and his cross-shot is diverted into his own goal by Galekovic! Not the best keeping you’ll ever see, but Victory don’t care! They’re right back in this!
Barbarouses celebrates getting Victory back into the game. Photograph: Michael Dodge/Getty Images
49 mins: Big handball shout for Victory! Barbarouses’ attempted cross appears to strike a hand on its way through! No onfield decision, but VAR may have a look at it...
46 mins: Back underway at Marvel Stadium! And that expected change has indeed happened: Ola Toivonen is on, with James Troisi the man to make way. “It’s a minor shift, obviously,” says Muscat. “We’ve got to be really organised. We’re confident we’ll create some chances. Now it’s about trading on chances and taking one of them.”
45+2 mins: There goes the whistle and a few half-hearted boos ring out. It could have been much worse for Victory though, had Griffiths’ shot found the back of the net instead of thumping the post.
41 mins: Here’s a flash point as Brattan flies into a challenge on Brown! That’s a nasty one and the two “come together”. Brattan is booked before Beana comes over shoves the City player to earn himself a yellow. Needless all around, really.
36 mins: Antonis lofts a long ball forward to Barbarouses, who for a moment looks like he’ll get a run in on goal, but the flag is up on the far side, and he’s called offside. Replays don’t really back up that decision, hence Barbarouses’ frustration.
34 mins: Here come City again, with Harrison. Lovely skills from the on-loan Tottenham player, who completely does Deng when he comes inside. Deng is thankful to Donachie though, with the sub making a crucial block as Harrison shoots.
32 mins: City start playing the ball about now, using their man advantage to good effect. Harrison looks to run onto a neat flick from Brattan but the ball’s quicker than he is and it runs out of play for a Victory goal kick.
31 mins: For a moment it opens up for Honda as he pulls down a long ball forward. Da Laet sees to it that the Japanese player goes no further. He brings him down, and gets away without a booking, much to the chagrin of the home crowd.
