The Melbourne City vs Melbourne Victory FFA Cup Semi-Final derby was exactly as spiteful as it should have been. It was also the highly entertaining exhibition of world class football the FFA Cup needed.Anyone who thought Timmy Cahill's record multi-million dollar transfer back to Australia for Melbourne City was a last-ditch cash-grab only needs to watch his 36th minute exchange with Melbourne Victory coach, Kevin Muscat to see otherwise.With the game poised at 1-0 to City, a pair of questionable challenges in quick succession - the first from Cahill's forward partner, Uruguyan Diego Fornaroli, and the second from the man himself, resulted in a dramatic sideline flare-up with the Victory coach.
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The famously firebrand coach and former teammate of Cahill's at English club Millwall, raced to the sideline gesticulating furiously. Cahill then seized him by the arm before officials were forced to intervene. The incident bore eery similarities to Muscat's infamous run-in with former Adelaide United assistant coach, John Kosmina back in 2006, and followed a dozen or more flare ups throughout the match, including a second melee with Cahill at the centre after he rugby-tackled two Melbourne Victory defenders.City opened the scoring in the 9th minute through a long distance wonder-strike from midfielder Luke Brattan. It was overshadowed by controversy, however, after Cahill, who was in an offside position, appeared to obstruct the keeper's line-of-sight as the ball approached. It was enough for the linesmen to raise his flag and dissallow the goal only for the centre referee to overrule and let it stand.
Victory's Albanian striker Besher Bishar then squandered a golden opportunity to equality at the 29 minute mark following a special cross from Marco Rojas. The embarrassing miss gave homegrown City keeper, Dean Bouzanis the last laugh having engaged in a running battle for much of the match with the usually proficient Victory marksman.The mullet-headed Argentine City forward Fernando Brandan then sealed victory 13 minutes from when he scrambled one home from close range. Melbourne City will now take on Sydney FC in the FFA Cup decider on November 30 in Sydney.