Fans evacuated from Melbourne A-League derby; players’ tempers boil over in heated clash

Melbourne Victory have missed a chance to provisionally move up to second on the A-League Men ladder after settling for a 0-0 draw against cross-town rivals Melbourne City in their 42nd local derby at AAMI Park on Saturday night.

Victory have now drawn five of their last six matches, and have registered 10 stalemates from 17 outings so far this season. They should finish the round in fourth spot, but could slip to fifth after their winless run entered a sixth game.

Meanwhile, City could now drop to eighth, after managing just four points from a possible 18 in their last six matches, and look set to be without Scott Galloway against Sydney FC next week after he was subbed out with what looked like a calf injury in the 56th minute.

Victory were the more dominant team with almost triple City’s shots on goal (17-6) and double the shots on target (6-3), while they had more possession (54 per cent) and corners (6-2) as well, but they could not find a way past City goalkeeper Jamie Young.

FALSE ALARM, FEW FIREWORKS

After a brief delay due to an emergency fire evacuation drill, which saw some supporters exit the stadium and prompted three or four fire trucks to attend the scene, it turned out to be a false alarm and the second half got underway, but it was far less eventful than the first.

Fans had to wait until the 70th minute to see some fireworks, but they had nothing to do with goalscoring opportunities.

Tempers boiled over when Marin Jakolis clashed with Geria, prompting Jakolis to kick out at Geria before leaning in and pushing his head into Geria’s face. The encounter resulted in both players receiving yellow cards, but Jakolis was lucky to avoid a red for his antics.

The match came alive again in the 81st minute when