Melbourne Victory have held on to claim the youth derby with a thrilling 5-4 win over Melbourne City on Sunday at Lakeside Stadium.
The hosts raced to a 4-0 lead after Connor Pain struck a double, Joey Katebian extended his NYL goal tally to five, while Kieran Dover also found the back of the net.
The visitors then pegged back the deficit via Ben Garuccio, Wade Dekker and Chris Cristaldo – who struck against his old club from the penalty spot – but couldn’t complete the miraculous comeback as Katebian scored his sixth competition goal, sealing the win.
That wasn’t before Cristaldo netted one more penalty deep into extra time, which ultimately acted as a consolation.
Victory had the early running, with Pain crossing in to Katebian for a shot that was deflected by Phil Petreski.
At the other end, Ali Eyigun had an effort that flashed wide of the goal, while Steve Kuzmanovski forced Lawrence Thomas into a spilled save that the keeper held on second effort.
Kuzmanovski was dangerous on the right wing, skipping past Thomas Deng before Thomas smothered his effort on goal.
Katebian was also troubling his opposition’s defence, beating an offside trap and drawing a foul from Anthony Casset outside the box that left the keeper on a yellow card.
With both sides exchanging chances in the first half, it was Pain who broke the deadlock for Victory in the 36th minute, benefiting from Scott Galloway’s cross from the right.
Katebian made it two goals in two minutes, tapping the ball past Casset to double his side’s advantage.
Victory added one more before the break, with Pain finding Christian Cavallo for a cross that met Kieran Dover at the back post for a tap in.
The hosts continued the momentum after half time, with Thomas Deng slipping through Pain for his second goal
City eventually pulled one back through Ben Garuccio, who struck a thunderbolt free kick from distance that left Thomas with no chance.
The visitors started to gain momentum, with Luke Gallo playing Wade Dekker through on goal for an effort that was saved by Thomas.
He made no mistake minutes later, lobbing the keeper from a similar scenario to cut Victory’s lead back to two.
It was three with 10 minutes to play when Kieran Dover was penalised for a handball in the box, with Cristaldo making no mistake from the spot.
An error from Casset then allowed Katebian to finish into an empty net, calming the hosts’ nerves momentarily.
A foul in the box allowed Cristaldo the opportunity to make for an exciting finish, though Victory eventually held on for the win with 10 men, after Galloway had conceded his second yellow earlier in the contest.
Melbourne Victory 5 (Pain 36′ 46′, Katebian 37′ 90′, Dover 45′) defeated Melbourne City 4 (Garruccio 53′, Dekker 72′, Cristaldo 80′ [p] 90′ [p]) at Lakeside Stadium
Melbourne Victory: Lawrence Thomas, Christian Cavallo, Thomas Deng, Giancarlo Gallifuoco, Scott Galloway, Anthony Duzel, Stefan Nigro, Kieran Dover, Connor Pain, Joey Katebian, John Maclean
Substitutes: Lucas Spinella (GK), 16. Sebastian Pasquali, 5. Damien Miskulin, 13. Lucas Derrick
Melbourne City: 37. Leo Athanasiou, 40. Anthony Casset (GK), 39. Ali Eyigun, 43. Tomislav Fadljevic, 5. Ben Garuccio, 44. Jordan Hall, 45. Andy Kecojevic, 48. Steve Kuzmanovski, 35. Phil Petreski, 34. Stefan Zinni
Substitiutes: Chris Cristaldo, 38. Luke Gallo, 6. Denis Genreau, 42. Jack West-Astuti