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Ola Toivonen was the hero as Melbourne Victory kickstarted their A-League season with a 2-1 derby win over Melbourne City.

Melbourne Victory have kickstarted their A-League season and claimed Melbourne derby bragging rights with a 2-1 win over Melbourne City at AAMI Park.

In front of 18,038 fans, Victory skipper Ola Toivonen scored a first-half brace before Harrison Delbridge pulled back a goal for City in the 56th minute.

The first half was clearly Victory's best performance of the season.

Marco Kurz's side had chemistry in attack, with Robbie Kruse on song and Elvis Kamsoba lively, while Migjen Basha provided a much-needed dose of aggression in midfield and Tim Hoogland led an organised defence.

"I saw a really strong game in the first half, I think we stayed very compact, we controlled the game and we scored two fantastic goals," Kurz said.

"And in the second half we must score more goals - I think we had five, six, seven good chances.

"But at the end it was the way - (it was) what the players wanted to invest in the game that was the key for me today."

In the 10th minute, Victory spurned a golden opportunity to take the lead.

Kamsoba forced a good save from Tom Glover and the rebound landed at the feet of Andrew Nabbout, who sizzled a shot on the half-volley wide.

Five minutes later, Victory broke the deadlock.

In the midst of congestion, Basha found Kruse who flicked the ball to Kamsoba.

The diminutive attacker spotted up Nabbout who delivered a lethal ball across goal for Toivonen to power home a header.

And the Swedish international made it 2-0 in the 41st minute.

Basha floated a delightful ball to Nabbout, whose volley across goal saw Curtis Good almost cut the ball into his own net, forcing Glover into a save.

Unfortunately for Glover, he could only parry it to Toivonen to head home his second.

Nabbout scorned a golden opportunity to make it 3-0 in the 51st minute, firing wide just five minutes before Delbridge pulled a goal back for City.

Noone took a corner short to Javier Cabrera, whose ball picked out centre-back Delbridge who out-jumped the Victory defence to power home a header.

Toivonen struggled after picking up an injury midway through the first half and made way in the 62nd minute.

Scott Galloway cleared a Basha header off the line in the 66th minute while Nabbout and Kamsoba could have extended Victory's lead in the 82nd and 84th minutes.

Galloway and Nathaniel Atkinson had late chances but Victory held on for their third win of the season, with City coach Erick Mombaerts left to rue his side's lack of intensity.

"We started without mental intensity - we lost too many duels, it was impossible because our press works but they found solutions out wide, 1-on-1 solutions - I'm very disappointed about this," Mombaerts said.

"And after when we (had) the possession we didn't create enough. So I'm very disappointed about our performance."