Melbourne 4 - 2 Cool (393026064)

It had rained all day, but 37840 hardy fans still made it out to Hellenic Stadium. Heinz Wiesinger was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Ralph Helmantel and Julien Allain. All of Victoria was shut down for the day, as fans of both clubs came to the derby. Melbourne had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Árky - Cullen, Ionescu, Roelfs - Tareco, Shishkin, Sendrós, Lanc, Ramaekers - Coruche, Bokskär.

A 2-5-3 alignment was the formation of choice for Cool. Lineup: Wainwright - Ellison, Justsen - Burnett, Kargbo, Peponis, Abbott, Wooden - Miles, Toovey, Manihera.

Cool took a creative approach on the field. B. Roelfs slipped and slithered in the wet grass. His usual rapid runs were nowhere to be seen today. After 8 minutes, W. Cullen came in from the right, feinted, then sped past the off-balance defender to make the score 1 - 0, giving Melbourne the lead. With 11 minutes played, Melbourne put themselves up 2 - 0 when the visiting defenders lost the ball to A. Tareco, who came up from the left and proceeded to coolly round the keeper and knock the ball home. Cool were desperate to get a goal back and pushed forward through the middle 13 minutes into the game. After a scramble in the box, the ball dropped to P. Manihera, who smashed it home to make the score 2 - 1. J. Bokskär could have increased the lead after 17 minutes, but his shot hit the post after a nice combination in the middle of the park. Cool's M. Justsen got himself booked for a foul. Unfortunately for Melbourne, W. Cullen was injured when the game became more physical, and he had to leave the field. G. Vlad replaced him. After 21 minutes Cool's M. Justsen limped slightly after a late challenge, but he was able to continue. 2 - 1 was the halftime score. Melbourne claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 58 percent.

The muddy pitch made the game a gritty affair, which seemed to suit N. Miles just fine. Cool tied it all up, 65 minutes in, after a spectacular goal by L. Burnett, who miraculously broke through the home side's central defence, making it 2 - 2. There was concern in the stands when, at the 79 minute mark, Cool's N. Miles hit the ground hard, but he refused the attention of the trainer and rejoined his teammates on the pitch. Making his way up the middle 82 minutes into the match, G. Coruche almost managed to squeeze a goal past the visitors' keeper, but the alert V. Wainwright blocked it to keep the score level. The visitors' central defence should have had no trouble clearing the pass to B. Roelfs, but the Melbourne player managed to shrug them off and fired a low shot past the keeper to give his team the lead. 3 - 2! Cool had a chance to level the score as H. Ellison suddenly found himself free in the middle of the box with only the keeper to beat, but he misjudged the finish, and only managed to hit the bar. X. Sendrós was ever so close to scoring after an excellent corner was beautifully flicked on by B. Roelfs, but the ball bounced off the post to safety. After 87 minutes, the away team failed to deal with a good exchange of passes on the right, and C. Ionescu gave the Melbourne supporters even more to cheer about when he increased the lead to 4 - 2. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Melbourne, with 57 percent of the ball.

Most important Melbourne player was X. Sendrós. G. Vlad turned in a dismal performance, however. Cool's top performer was clearly K. Toovey. L. Burnett was a disappointment, however. The match ends 4 - 2.