Western United and Melbourne Victory played out an entertaining goalless draw at the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium on Saturday evening, as neither side was able to break the deadlock on the day.
Victory started brightly showing positive signs and making headway into the attacking third of the pitch, but were unable to find the final ball to make the most of the early momentum.
In the 10th minute, Victory broke away as Marco Rojas collected the a long ball in the middle and made his way forward, playing Brandon Lauton clean through. The 20-year-old was clean through and let loose a good shot that appeared to be going in, but ended up hitting the post.
The ‘away’ side had another opportunity to take the lead when Rojas went into the left side of the box and cut it back to midfielder Jacob Butterfield, who took a well hit left-footed strike from long range. But the shot ended up going agonisingly wide of the target.
With 10 minutes to go in the first period, United skipper Alessandro Diamanti combined well with Connor Pain to allow for Victory hitman Besart Berisha to put the ball into the back of the net. But following a consultation with VAR, Pain was adjudged to have been in an offside position when he received the ball from his captain. The referee promptly disallowed the goal as the deadlock remained unbroken.
Grant Brebner’s men had a chance early on in the second-half when Adama Traore combined well with Rojas to send in a corner from the left flank finding Luis Lawrie-Lattanzio in the process. But the young striker was unable to get the right direction at the near post, as his header went wide of the target.
With 20 minutes left to go, a sloppy failed clearance from Victory allowed midfielder Victory Sanchez to play Iker Guarrotxena through on goal. The former Volos winger took a strong shot on target from the edge of the six-yard-box. But goalkeeper Max Crocombe did well to parry on that occasion.
After 72 minutes had passed, Diamanti received the ball at the edge of the box and did well to turn and shake off defender Dylan Ryan to take a superb left-footed shot that clearly had ‘keeper Crocombe beaten. But the crossbar came to the rescue as the scoreline stayed goalless.
Minutes later, Diamanti found himself in a bit of space and let loose a thunderbolt of a shot from 25-yards out. Yet again the woodwork kept the ball out, much to the frustration of the men in green and black.
With the game getting a little stretched as time wore on, things were also getting more physical on the pitch. United fans chanted for VAR on occasions when one of their players was subject to a challenge from the opposition, but it was ironic that the technology came to assist Victory instead.
Diamanti released Sanchez, who in turn played it through to youngster Dylan Pierias. The 20-year-old did exceptionally well to get the better of both centre-halves and put the ball past the ‘keeper and into the back of the net. But as the fireworks went off and United fans celebrated, the offside flag was up and VAR confirmed that the goal would not stand.
Only a minute of normal time was left when Victory midfielder Jake Brimmer attracted defenders like bees to honey as he played Elvis Kamsoba through. The Burundian sent a curling shot towards goal, but ‘keeper Filip Kurto was equal to the task as he got just enough on it to keep the ball out.
As the referee brough the game to a halt, points were shared as neither side had been able to break the deadlock on the day.
Western United travel to take on Central Coast Mariners in Gosford next Sunday, while Melbourne Victory lock horns with Brisbane Roar at the Dolphin Oval next Saturday.
