Melbourne Victory defender Damien Da Silva has scored a dramatic late winner to deliver a 2-1 comeback triumph over Melbourne City and keep his side in the hunt for the A-League Men premiership.
City playmaker Tolgay Arslan, wearing the captain's armband, gave his side the lead in the fourth minute at AAMI Park on Saturday night.
Bruno Fornaroli restored parity from the penalty spot half an hour later before Da Silva headed home from a corner in the 86th minute.
Here it is Victory fam!— Melbourne Victory (@gomvfc) DIMMA'S DERBY WINNER 🤩#MelbDerby pic.twitter.com/1SR1lZDrJxApril 6, 2024
Three minutes later, Arslan spurned a golden chance to equalise.
Victory (41 points) sit behind Central Coast and Wellington (both 46 points) and next face the Phoenix away.
City (30 points) sit four points outside the top six, and next face Perth at home.
Victory were dominant, with 22 shots (five on target) to seven (two), and at one point City went 59 minutes without recording an official shot.
With coach Aurelio Vidmar unavailable through illness, stand-in City mentor Raffaele Napoli suffered a blow before the game started with Marco Tilio ruled out with a quad injury.
City were gifted the lead after a disastrous mix-up from Victory.
Melbourne City's Tolgay Arslan slots home in the ALM derby loss to Melbourne Victory. (Will Murray/AAP PHOTOS)
Ryan Teague's poor, heavy backpass caught Jake Brimmer unawares and Arslan pounced, brushing off the midfielder and bursting forward to finish past Paul Izzo.
It was the first goal in three derbies this season.
Daniel Arzani received a yellow card for simulation after flinging himself to ground in the seventh minute.
Victory put the hammer down and dominated from there, and in the 16th, Jamie Young pulled off an incredible one-handed save to deny Ben Folami.
But the Victory equalised in the 34th minute when City left-back Vicente Fernandez needlessly brought down Jason Geria and Fornaroli buried the penalty.
Bruno Fornaroli levels from the spot in the derby win over Melbourne City. (Will Murray/AAP PHOTOS)
Only a desperate intervention from Curtis Good stopped Fornaroli tapping home in the 45th minute.
Fornaroli appeared to have headed his side in front just before halftime but was marginally offside.
Young tipped a Leo Natel defensive header over the bar and the Victory should have taken the lead on the hour mark when Adama Traore blasted wide.
But they would not be denied and took the lead when Da Silva headed home from a Teague corner.
Three minutes later, Arslan was put through on goal but blasted over the bar, then sank to his knees.
Nishan Velupillay had the ball in the back of the net in added time but the Victory attacker was offside.