Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory have been forced to settle for a third-straight draw in their A-League Men derby clashes, finishing locked at 1-1 at AAMI Park.
Despite only landing back in Australia on Thursday after being knocked out of the Asian Champions League in extra time by Japan's Visell Kobe, Victory largely contained City's high-powered attack on Saturday and took the lead through Marco Rojas in the 19th minute.
But City levelled through Curtis Good on the stroke of halftime and moved back to the top of the ALM table after Western United were soundly beaten by Sydney FC following a simultaneous kickoff.
Dropping to sixth thanks to Sydney's win, Victory host Western United in another derby on Wednesday, while City travel to face Brisbane the same night.
After a cagey opening, Victory struck first when Ben Folami played a one-two with Jake Brimmer, sprinted into City's half and slid a pass behind their defensive line for Rojas to finish.
City controlled the stat sheet as the half progressed but struggled to fashion notable chances - needing to be mindful of Victory's desire to attack on the counter.
But in such circumstances set pieces can provide a safety net.
And this proved the case for the defending champions when Good met a short-corner routine and sent a glancing header across the face of goalkeeper Ivan Kelava and inside the far post.
Victory responded well and began to become bolder in their forays forward in the second stanza; Josh Brillante just denied a go-ahead goal in the 66th when Nuno Reis desperately stuck a boot in to deflect his close-range shot from Folami's cutback.
City's Jamie Maclaren, Stefan Colakovski, and Good had chances to win the game with a late flurry - the latter hitting the post - but couldn't convert as the sides extended a run of draws in their clashes stretching back to last season.
