90+3min: Still City push forward. A deep ball into the danger area is dealt with easily by the keeper. Victory happy to play keep-ball now. Less than a minute left. Berisha gets a booking for wasting time.

90+1 min: Finkler off for Makarounas. Muscat just chewing up time now... three minutes of it left.

88 min: Another foul brings the tally up to 34 for the night. There’s a very fine line between passionate and scrappy. This game has a foot in both camps.

86 min: Talking point alert! Berisha goes down in the box under contact. Etihad bays for a penalty but the referee says no. He’s abrave, brave men.

85 min: Mooy’s set-piece hits the wall and the attack, eventually, fizzles out.

84 min: Kuzi appeals for a handball in the box but it would have been very harsh. City now on the attack, Mooy surges towards the box and is fouled just outside it. This is dangerous for Victory.

82 min: Sorensen with a great save, tipping over a powerful header from Berisha. It’s end to end stuff.

81 min: Ooo, another throughball almost finds Chapman. Victory hearts are in mouths but the linesman’s flag comes to their rescue.

79 min: Off comes Barbarouses for Pain. Suddenly tensions flare as Finkler confronts Fornaroli. Can anyone speak Spanish?

76 min: Well it’s not been a classic, but the last five minutes have produced enough drama for the whole game. Two cracking goals from City. What a ball from Mooy. City with the momentum now. They’ve somehow gone from staring down the barrel to searching for a winner.

73 min: What’s happening? Where did this come from? I wrote a sentence with the words “nail” and “coffin” in it about 15 minutes ago and yet it’s all square again. Fantastic goals from City and it’s game on. Victory look shellshocked.

70 min: So, little acorns for City. It was from nothing really, but then so was Victory’s first.

65 min: Retre goes in the book for not retreating. Silly. City still scrapping away but they just don’t look like breaking through. Some nice passing in around the box though... before Fornaroli fires a speculative effort goalwards that Vukovic gathers easily.

63 min: Dekker comes off for Espindola. Youth product for youth product. Can he make a difference? I’m not sure if anyone could at the minute. The whole team needs to step up a gear.

62 min: Is it a bird, is it a plane? No it’s just a (very) skewed cross from Khalfallah. Victory can afford the odd wayward one though. They’re all over this.

60 min: Great stop from Sorensen to deny another clear-cut chance from Khalfallah after a great through-ball by Valeri. City clinging on. Will it be another 3-0?

55 min: Mooy showing a measure of much-needed composure in the face of the onslaught, a step-over and a few simple passes is all it takes to buy them some breathing space. It eventually leads to a chance for Mooy... but the less said about the finish the better. It was so high it could have kept Matt Damon company on Mars, a bit like Wilson from Castaway.

52 min: Ridiculous from City. They win another corner but somehow end up in the same situation as the last one, desperately racing back as Victory hit on the counter-attack. You’re doing it wrong!

50 min: Corner at the other end but Mooy’s cross can’t beat the first man. Seconds later, Victory are storming up the field and Barbarouses wastes a good opportunity from the edge of the box, firing well over from a good position.

48 min: It goes right up the other end and Victory win a corner as City scramble back. Bit of pinball in the box but Sorensen is on it like a huntsman to smother the danger. Bit of bewilderment on how Berisha wasn’t called for offside in the initial break. Baffling.

47 mins: Niggly start to the half, stop-start as Clisby goes down under a challenge to earn a free-kick for Mooy. He clips it into the box but Deng does well to block the danger. The youngster has impressed in Broxham’s absence.

43 min: Good challenge from Chapman to stop another Victory break. Half-time can’t come quick enough for the visitors. They haven’t done much wrong, but there’s no doubt who’s been on top. They need a new plan if they’re going to get something from this one.

41 min: City haven’t got an answer to Victory’s dominance over the last 15 minutes. All they’re doing is holding on and hoping Victory don’t conjure up another one before half-time. Mooy seems the man most likely to hurt the hosts, but he’s being nullified well - not always fairly.

39 min: A Mooy free-kick dips and swerves towards goal, but it’s so far out that Vukovic has no trouble getting himself behind it and scooping up the ball.

36 min: Victory still searching for another, with their attacks down the right causing all sorts of trouble. This is why they’re champions, they always find a weakness in the end. City holding onto the ball well when they’ve got it but they look immediately under pressure when they lose it.

33 min: Another corner. Victory turning the screw now with just over ten minutes of the half to go. City defending well but the pressure is building. Another short one ends up with Khalfallah scooping it high and wide. They’ve clearly been working on these short set-pieces. It’s beginning to grate on my less-than cultured senses. A few more minutes of this and I’ll be yelling “geddit in the mixer!” like a manager from the 80s.

30 min: Corner to Victory... and my earlier words about taking set-pieces short almost comes back to bite me as Finkler gets into the box and drills one low and hard. Sorensen does well to get down and close his legs in time to stop the danger. He’s been sharp when called upon.

27 min: Oooo... Dekker called offside after a good throughball by Mooy. His shot hits the post anyway. Literally a warning shot for Victory.

26 min: Well that should liven things up. Nothing Sorensen could do to stop the goal, but City were caught out at the back nonetheless. Victory have their tails up now. Georgievski is causing havoc, it was his initial pass that set up the opener.

Let’s be polite and put it down to rust. I’m sure it’ll get better as the season goes on... Cough.

19 min: Good build-up work by Victory, starting at the back and going all the way to Berisha on the left flank before coming back through Bozanic. City win it back and do much the same, probing forward without really threatening. Possession is king so far.

17 min: The game seems to have settled a little now. Surprisingly few nerves on show considering the size of the crowd. A half-chance falls to Finkler after a good chest down by Berisha, but his first-time strike flies over the bar. Finkler is caught offside in Victory’s next attack. Not a great start by the midfield man.

14 min: Couple of City crosses into the box are dealt with well by the Victory defence. Both teams have looked watertight so far. The free-kicks are starting to mount up though. Six given away by the visitors. Lucky for City, Finkler is off his aim tonight. Every one he’s delivered has been poor.

12 min: Booking for Chapman. Hmmm. Odd one there. He didn’t seem to do much at all... whereas Dekker, who was tracking Khalfallah’s run, was niggling away at his heels. Seems to have sparked a conversation on the field... and the result is Dekker goes in the book instead. Well that’s cleared that up. I think.

10 min: Finkler with a short free-kick near the box that comes to nothing (why do team’s do that from set-pieces?) He almost makes up for it by working his way down the left sideline but his final cross is cut-out.

8min: Ooof! Chapman clears a dangerous ball into the box. Think that was Khalfallah lurking just behind him. If the City defender had muffe that it would have been an simple finish.

6 min: Good work by Fornaroli. He didn’t have many options but managed to hold the ball up under pressure before playing it back. Good start by City although there’s nothing in it.

5 min: Victory with the first couple of near-breaks, but City harassing and chasing navy blue shirts all over the pitch. It seems to be working too, Dekker almost finds a way through but is foiled by some good defending.

3 min: Great play from Sorensen. Berisha was almost clean through but the keeper came roaring out of his area to slide the ball to safety before the Albanian could get to it. The former Premier League stopper looks as sharp as ever.

Muscat scowling away from the sideline, it’s his default facial setting. John Van’t Schip looks positively serene. Here we go.

Some excellent hand-on-hip action from the Victory boys as the two sides front up. That’s some quality stance work.

Now Victory walk on with “Stand By Me” blaring over the Tannoy. Choon.

The City fans seem in good voice, but there’s no doubting who’s playing at home. A sea of navy blue in the stands. City just stepping out onto the pitch now - a rousing round of applause mixed with booing. As you’d expect.

While we’re waiting, here’s a reminder of the last time these two teams met - the semi-final at Etihad. City fans look away now.

Looks like there’s some way to go to reach the 45,000 mark. Not long now.

Anyway, back to the important stuff.

Team news:
Melbourne Victory: Vukovic (GK); Georgievski, Delpierre, Deng, Murnane; Bozanic, Valeri, Finkler; Barbarouses, Berisha, Khalfallah.
Subs: Thomas, Pain, Gallifuoco, Mahazi, Makarounas

Melbourne City: Sorenson (GK); Retre, Kisnorbo, Clisby, Chapman; Paartalu, Mooy, Koren; Dekker, Fornaroli, Zullo.
Subs: Velaphi, Espindola, Kuzi, Mauk, Millar

As expected, midfield stars Carl Valeri and Aaron Mooy are thrown into the starting line-up (after missing out last week) in what could be a key match-up. Valeri has shaken off a knock and is back at full fitness for Victory, while Mooy came off the bench for City in last week’s match against Sydney after a long flight with the Socceroos. In fact you could say that City were “Aaron” on the side of caution last week - but now it’s a case of the “Mooy” the merrier. Brace yourself for more of those “Valerious” puns over the next two hours.

Also congratulations to Danny Vukovic. His 229th appearance tonight is an A-League record. And Deng gets the nod at centre-half as Broxham’s replacement.

In other sports news, Sydney FC have snatched a very late winner against Newcastle. It finished 1-0 in the Hunter.

And the favourite Mongolian Khan has won the Caulfield Cup. Check out the highlights below to see where your nag came.

Of course Broxham wasn’t the only player to get in trouble for sending a rival theatrically tumbling to the turf this week. Take it away Boris...

And we can’t resist showing that one without showing this Zidane-esque tackle...

A lot of talk on the Victory side of the city this week has been about Broxham’s dubious red card against Adelaide. Broxy (as he’s known to his friends) or Foxy Broxy (as he’s known to his lady friends) misses this game as a result. Is it evidence of the beautiful game’s foreign influence undermining the Australian sporting psyche, as Carl Valeri suggested this week? Or is it just pants refereeing? You decide.

There’s been some optimistic chirruping that we might see a gate of over 50,000 tonight. Can’t see it happening but it could certainly bother the mid-40,000s - and them’s record-breaking numbers. Whatever the final figure, there should be as much shouting and verbal volleys from the stands as there is in an average episode of The Verdict.

Richard will be along before too long to guide you through tonight’s big game in Melbourne. In the meantime, allow yourself a chortle at David Squires’s comic interpretation of the derby: