Velupillay living up to Kisnorbo’s ‘high expectation’ as Victory claim derby bragging rights
Christian Montegan 
Nishan Velupillay celebrates opening the scoring in the Melbourne Derby. Photo: Marcus Robertson/Round Ball Australia
Melbourne has temporarily turned navy blue as Victory coach Patrick Kisnorbo helped guide his team to a 3-1 win against his old employers in Melbourne City.
Kisnorbo made a name for himself at City where he earned the club’s maiden A-League Championship in 2020/21 before moving to French club Troyes for a new adventure overseas.
A nightmare stint in France saw the former Socceroo defender receive his marching orders after picking up three wins in 40 matches, leading to his arrival at Victory following Tony Popovic’s departure.
It took less than five minutes for Victory to draw first blood in front of the Yarra End Collective when Zinédine Machach threaded an inch-perfect ball to Nishan Velupillay who dispatched his opportunity.
Boasted with an array of confidence having scored on his Socceroos debut and getting his name on seven-goal contributions in the Australia Cup recently, the 23-year-old continues to step up to the plate.
With Daniel Arzani beginning the derby on the bench after completing his suspension, Velupillay is seizing the chance with both hands, and not giving Kisnorbo any excuses to become the next winger dropped.
A newfound confidence in front of goal has ultimately paid dividends concerning Velupillay’s final execution, a sign that is not going unnoticed.
“One of the things I wanted to work on [with Velupillay] was improving the end product,” Kisnorbo said post-match.
“He needs to work a lot more to get better, but so far he’s done great.
“Obviously he’s put himself into the Socceroos squad. What happens next, [in terms of the next international window], I don’t know. He’ll continue to work hard and he needs to do that.
“We’ve put a high bar on him and a high expectation for him. He’s getting rewarded for his hard work, but also he needs to do more.”
From there it was one-way traffic for the remainder of the first half thanks to an unthinkable City collapse, including a howler from goalkeeper Patrick Beach which was punished by Victory midfielder Ryan Teague.
Sandwiched between those two goals was a swift move down Reno Piscopo’s left-hand side to dink a cross into the lap of Nikos Vergos to open the Greek striker’s account for the season.
Despite dominating the opening 45 minutes, the one negative that will be taken away from the match is Victory’s inability to produce the same high-quality football regularly.
“When you reflect, you want to continue what you did in the first half, and I know teams can be a bit inconsistent which I get,” Kisnorbo admitted.
“But for me, it’s about trying to sustain the level of the first half consistently with the second half which we need to work on to get better.”
Victory will turn their attention towards their first home game this season against Macarthur next week, as they intend to exact revenge for a disappointing Australia Cup final loss four weeks ago.