Melbourne City FC has suffered an 0-6 loss in Sunday’s Melbourne Derby at CB Smith Reserve.
City went into half time trailing 0-2 and starting the second half well but Victory found the back of the net four times in the final 20 minutes to record a big win.
Starting XI
Rado Vidosic made two changes to the starting line-up that took on Canberra last week. Harriet Withers led the line for City while with another week of training under her belt, Chinatsu Kira broke into the starting XI.
Not our day today at CB Smith Reserve. The good news is we have the chance to bounce back when we take on Victory again next Sunday.
A massive thank you to the large crowd that came out and braved the heat today!#MelbourneDerby #WLeague pic.twitter.com/mz0mGMKd8F
— Melbourne City FC (@MelbourneCity) January 10, 2021
The clash
The game almost got off to a perfect start for City with a Victory mistake at the back leaving them vulnerable defensively.
Harriet Withera pounced on the lose ball, turned, and shot, but Victory keeper Gabriela Garton just managed to get enough on it to send it out for a corner.
City settled quickly and controlled the early proceedings but Victory were able to work their way into the game and quickly gained some momentum from the ten minute mark.
Micah watched a few attempts sail past her goal but Victory were able to find the opener in the 16th minute through Annalie Longo.
In just her third W-League game of her career, Sarah Cain worked hard to get City back into the game and started to pose a problem in the final third for the Victory defence, showing she is able to get forward.
Despite Cain having a few attempts on goals and getting back some momentum for City, Victory doubled their advantage in the 29th minute.
Teagan Micah did well to save the initial shot from Longo but Melina Ayres was there to put the follow up into the empty net.
The second half started in a very similar way to the first with Withers having an early shot at goal.
She went on a nice run and went past some Victory defenders to make her way into the box but saw her shot go over the crossbar and out for a goal kick.
City made a couple of big changes in the 60th minute, subbing on Rhali Dobson for her 100th W-League appearance and Alex Chidiac for her first match since returning to the Club.
60' | SUBSTITUTION
Subs don't get much bigger than this! On comes Rhali Dobson for her 100th @WLeague appearance, along with Alex Chidiac who appears in a City shirt for the first time since returning to the Club!
Chidiac, Dobson 🔁 Cain, Palmer#MelbourneDerby #WLeague
— Melbourne City FC (@MelbourneCity) January 10, 2021
This looked to be a great move as City immediately found some momentum with Dobson causing problems for the Victory defence.
Harriet Withers was inches away from a first W-League goal in the 65th minute, only denied by a good save from Garton in what was a great piece of team play from a free kick.
Kira again showed her quality from the set piece and found McCormick whose header perfectly teed up the striker from close range.
From this point, it was all Victory as they piled on a further four goals from the 72nd minute mark to finish with a big win.
What’s next?
City will quickly have the chance to redeem itself when it takes on Victory again next Sunday. That fixture will be played at Epping Stadium with kick off at 4.05pm.
