Only Elvis Kamsoba could have his first professional goal ruled out by the VAR and come out smiling at the other end.
The former Avondale forward gave fans an insight into what’s to come when that goal is scored – celebrating with several back-flips in front of the Victory fans.
Kamsoba thought he had opened the scoring when he slipped the ball past Dean Bouzanis in the 56th minute, only for the VAR to deem it offside and rule it out.
While the 23-year-old is still looking for his first A-League goal, he is not fazed by the decision not going his way.
“It would’ve been my first goal for Victory, I didn’t think I was offside that’s why I went crazy,” he said.
“As soon as they start checking you start getting a bit worried, it could go either way but after it got disallowed you say ‘ah that’s football’ and you work hard and try to get another one.
“I think [the back-flip] comes naturally but I haven’t done it in a long time. It was planned the whole time I knew what I would do if it happened.”
The build-up was the best Victory had looked all night, with captain Ola Toivonen breaking free of Harrison Delbridge to set-up Kamsoba with a perfect through ball.
“[Ola and I] have been doing that all pre-season, the coach has played me as a ten or on the wing so I try to connect with Ola and [Andrew] Nabbout, I think it’s working and I think its something that’s going to get better,” Kamsoba said.
“We’re still trying to adjust a little bit, players are still coming in so we’re trying to play the way Kurz’s wants us to play.”
Despite not winning the match, Marco Kurz was content with how his team fared in his first match in charge.
Not since 2013 has a Melbourne derby finished goalless, with City having won the last three October derbies.
While City looked far more polished than their opponents, the Victory showed glimpses – Andrew Nabbout starting strongly while Adama Traore defended well in his return – with Kurz confident his team will gel over time.
“We need time for improvement and we have a lot of work to do, I’m still confident I believe in the bots that we are on the right track,” he said.
“The result is not bad against a very strong City side.
“Sometimes we missed a final pass and other times the crosses weren’t too good some little details, but in the end big points, if you make a good cross or shot you can decide a derby.”
The Victory were without new signing Tim Hoogland, despite the German expected to have made his debut.
According to Kurz, Hoogland injured himself in the team’s last training session – ruling him out of the derby.
“[He got injured in the] last pass in the last session the injury is very disappointing, we will see how long he is out for but he was not good enough to be part of the game,” Kurz said.
“We will have a scan and then see how long he will be out for.
“We have a strong squad and everyone must know what to do when we have injuries and at the end you must respect this as a coach and look ahead.”
