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Lightning Strikes Twice As Melbourne Stuns Auckland
by Jeremy Ruane
While it's the city's rugby league team which employs the Storm moniker, Melbourne Victory is the team which is fast gaining a reputation for raining on the parades of New Zealand's Isuzu Ute A-League clubs, after dashing local hopes for the second year in a row.
Last year, the Grand Final hopes of Wellington Phoenix went west as Melbourne prevailed after extra time in New Zealand's capital. Twelve months on, lightning struck twice in Aotearoa as the West Island outfit stunned Auckland FC 2-0 at a jam-packed GoMedia Mt. Smart Stadium on May 24 to overturn a first leg deficit and set up an all-Melbourne showdown in the 2025 Grand Final.
29,148 fans turned up in buoyant mood, confident that the Premiers' Plate winners would finish the job and secure home advantage in the Isuzu Ute A-League Grand Final in a week's time. But Melbourne, who have previous where the showpiece fixture is concerned having won it four times and been runners-up on three occasions, silenced the natives with two goals in a five-minute spell before the hour mark to spoil the party atmosphere big-time.
In fairness, the visitors had been the better side during the first half, carving out three openings inside the first ten minutes which served as the firing of warning shots across Auckland's bows. The first materialised inside the first two minutes of the contest, Dan Hall averting the danger posed by Bruno Fornaroli at the near post after Jordi Valadon and Nishan Velupillay had combined to good effect on the right.
Six minutes later, the charging figure of Daniel Arzani set up an opening for Clarismario Santos which he fired past the near post, while within sixty seconds, a slick one-two twixt Zinedine Machach and Arzani resulted in the former presenting Velupillay - later to depart the fray through injury - with a great chance which he sliced wildly wide of the target.
Having weathered Melbourne's early storm, Auckland gradually grew into the contest, first threatening on the quarter hour via a Francis de Vries throw-in towards Nando Pijnaker, who was bundled over in the area by Machach.
Referee Alex King waved play on, as the ball had dropped kindly for Louis Verstraete to hook goalwards, only for Jack Duncan to pluck the sphere from the sky. There was no real advantage for Auckland, however - exhibit A where the home team's post-match grievances with regards to the officiating were concerned.
Ten minutes later, Auckland asked further questions of Melbourne's defence, this time via a Marlee Francois corner. Duncan pawed at it, the ball dropping invitingly for Guillermo May to unleash a volley, which was blocked, but rebounded to Logan Rogerson.
When you're facing the wrong way in your opponent's penalty area, with the goal right behind you, there are two things a striker worth his weight in goals can do - seek out a better-placed team-mate, or improvise.
Rogerson did neither, squandering the chance to open the scoring via a cheeky back-heel a la Sadio Mane for Liverpool against Watford six years ago - imagine how a goal of that quality would have gone down in this atmosphere …
Instead, Melbourne responded with another series of attacks, but in Hall they came across a formidable obstacle who simply would not yield. He slid in to deny Arvani in the act of shooting in the 32nd minute, before producing a stunning block four minutes later which thwarted Varadon's shot on the turn eight yards out from goal, following Ryan Teague's through ball.
In the shadows of the half-time whistle, frustrations boiled over in the wake of one too many rugged challenges, and a gathering of the clans ensued. Alex Paulsen came racing out of goal to add his tuppence ha'penny's worth to proceedings, an act which earned him the lone booking of the blow-up, although he should have been joined in referee King's book by Machach - exhibit B …
Auckland came out on the front foot from the start of the second spell, without truly threatening Duncan's goal. Indeed, it must be said they didn't do enough to win this game, with one getting the impression that they felt they'd done the hard work in Melbourne, and that their opponents, who hadn't scored against Auckland in their three previous matches this season, wouldn't alter that statistic this time round.
How wrong that presumption proved to be! For in the 55th minute, Melbourne took the lead on the night, and drew level on aggregate. Valadon fed Machach, who raced on before letting fly from twenty-five yards, a shot which took a wicked deflection off the covering figure of Pijnaker and swerved past the wrong-footed figure of Paulsen and into the net by the left-hand post.
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Auckland, players and fans alike, was still reeling from that blow when the visitors delivered another one on the hour, which put them 2-0 ahead on the night, and 2-1 up on aggregate. Arzani played a pass to Valadon, who split the defence with a delicious angled through ball to reward Fornaroli's run. He doesn't miss one-on-one opportunities, and Paulsen became his latest victim as he slotted home unerringly into the far corner.
Picture a punctured balloon. Or a tyre with a slow leak. There was no longer a party atmosphere at GoMedia Stadium, more that of a wake. Melbourne had torn up the script, and Auckland had half-an-hour to recover the situation.
Before they did, the visitors could have scored again, Joshua Inserra directing a header across the face of goal on receipt of a Machach cross. But gradually Steve Corica's charges mounted a charge, knowing that a solitary goal was all they needed to earn extra time and a further half-hour to break down Melbourne's defensive set-up, which saw them deploying an additional central defender in order to frustrate their opponents' intentions.
The ploy worked, because in the final twenty minutes, Auckland created just four decent chances to level the scores on aggregate, the first of which prompted huge controversy as the "equaliser" was disallowed.
De Vries' corner was punched out by Duncan, with the ball finding its way to May. From the by-line, he delivered a cross to the far post which Rogerson rose to head home from close range, right in front of "The Port", who promptly went off big-time celebrations-wise.
Their joy swiftly turned to despair, however, at the sight of Kearney Robinson's raised flag. The assistant referee had remained in position on the goal-line following de Vries' corner, so was perfectly placed to determine if the ball had crossed the dead ball line from May's cross prior to reaching Rogerson. It had. No goal.
Auckland weren't best pleased, assistant coach Danny Hay even earning himself a red card after the final whistle for venting his spleen on this and other decisions. While there wasn't any which could be called upon at the time, conclusive video proof that the ball had gone out of play before curling back in was eventually found, vindicating Mr Robinson's on-the-spot decision. A big call. The right one.
Melbourne continued to repel Auckland's attacks in the time remaining, until it came time to throw the kitchen sink into the mix in the dying minutes. By this time, Neyder Moreno had entered the fray and was regularly unhinging Melbourne's rearguard, but they continued to stand firm, clearing his 88th minute cross before looking on with relief as the substitute headed a Verstaete cross narrowly past the far post seconds later.
Into stoppage time we went, and with time all but up, Auckland went desperately close to levelling the scores on aggregate. Callan Elliot lobbed the ball into the danger zone, prompting confusion between Duncan and Lachlan Jackson. Pijnaker promptly hooked the ball goalwards, only for Josh Rawlins to produce a goal-line clearance which broke Auckland's hearts and confirmed Melbourne Victory as Grand Finalists for an eighth time.
It was a sad note on which to end Auckland's otherwise fabulous debut season, one which came with a silver lining in the form of the Premiers' Plate - the first time in history that the league winners' trophy has spent the close season outside Australia, after twenty-six years of trying by the Football Kingz, the New Zealand Knights and Wellington Phoenix. (Note, please, commentators, the absence of the pronoun where Wellington is concerned - it's unnecessary).
Alas, they came up short in what proved to be the final forty-five minutes of their season, one of extremely few occasions in this campaign in which Steve Corica's side hadn't done enough on the day to win.
Instead, as Melbourne Victory take on Melbourne City at AAMI Park in next week's Grand Final, there'll be lots of "that should have been us" sentiments from squad and fans alike. And rightly, as hosting rights for the Grand Final were Auckland's to lose. Sadly, against all the odds, they did.
Auckland: Paulsen (booked, 44); Sakai (Elliot, 74), Hall, Pijnaker (booked, 78), de Vries; Rogerson (Howieson, 74), Verstraete, Gallegos (booked, 41 (Brimmer, 58), Francois (Moreno, 58)); Randall (Gillion, 62), May
Melbourne: Duncan; Miranda, Jackson, Rawlins; Velupillay (Inserra, 46), Teague, Valadon (booked, 46), Machach (Badolato, 90), Santos (Reec, 65); Fornaroli (booked, 65 (Vergos, 83)), Arzani (booked, 20 (Piscopo, 83))
Referee: Alex King
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