3 minute read

Melbourne Victory coach Tony Popovic and Melbourne City counterpart Rado Vidosic say their players are focused ahead of an A-League Men derby.

Arch-rivals Melbourne Victory and Melbourne City insist they have moved on from the darkest day in A-League Men history as they prepare to lock horns for the first time since December's violent pitch invasion.

The round-eight derby was abandoned after just 21 minutes as fans stormed the AAMI Park pitch during an emotion-charged fixture amid protests against the A-Leagues' controversial decision to play grand finals in Sydney for the next three years.

Referee Alex King was injured and a television cameraman was hurt when struck by a flare, while City goalkeeper Tom Glover suffered concussion and lacerations to the face when hit with a metal bucket.

The drama has cast a dark shadow over last-placed Victory's horror campaign, with $550,000 in fines and crowd restrictions among the sanctions handed down by Football Australia.

The threat of a 10-point deduction - to be imposed if there is further crowd trouble within the next three-and-a-half seasons - still hangs over the club ahead of Saturday night's clash at AAMI Park.

"No one's ignoring it (but) we've all moved on from that," Victory coach Tony Popovic said.

"I don't know if the players are speaking about it internally but we're not addressing it as a group.

"We're happy to see our fans and members back, (and) we want that to continue."

City led December's derby through a well-crafted Aiden O'Neill goal before the match was called off.

They have since gone on to build a commanding eight-point lead over Central Coast at the top of the table, with a game in hand, and coach Rado Vidosic is adamant his players are focused on the task at hand.

"We are not going to talk about the 'memorable' things," Vidosic said, in reference to the pitch invasion.

"We will show some of the clips from the (previous derby) game, some of our attacking combination play. We scored a beautiful goal.

"We had several other good opportunities in the first 20 minutes but also they had a couple of chances as well.

"It's a derby, the form and position on the table never really make a big difference. It's going to be who does better on the day."

Victory have managed just one win in eight matches since the abandoned derby but four fresh faces brought in during the transfer window have boosted hopes of a turnaround in fortunes.

Damien Da Silva, Connor Chapman and Bruce Kamau all featured in last week's defeat away to Newcastle and could be joined by Fernando Romero in the side to face City.

The Paraguyan striker - on loan from Primera Division outfit Cerro Porteno - is a chance to make his Victory debut off the bench as Popovic urges his side to use the derby as a springboard back into finals contention.

"We feel we're very close to turning this," Popovic said.

"There's no better night or no better game to do it than in a derby.

"We're up against the best (and) that's a fantastic challenge. We know we're good enough to win the game.

"Instead of talking about it, we have to show it in our performance.

"If we bring out the best performance I think we can really show Melbourne City what a good team we are."