‘I like to give a bit of a verbal volley’: Jamieson explains Nabbout exchange

There were no goals but Saturday night’s Melbourne Derby still provided a few flashpoints which typified the bitter rivalry between Victory and City.

No one embodies the feud between the two local rivals more than City skipper Scott Jamieson.

In one of the absorbing one-on-one battles at Marvel Stadium, Jamieson went up against returning Victory star and Caltex Socceroos attacker Andrew Nabbout.

While Nabbout took the points in the first-half, the all-action left-back kept him in check after the break as City’s defence held firm to start Erick Mombaerts’ reign with a respectable goalless draw.

There was one tangle in the second-half where Nabbout looked to hold off the attention of Jamieson and drive into the box, only to go to ground as the ball rolled out for a goal-kick.

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While the Victory attacker felt he was fouled, Jamieson didn’t agree and let Nabbout know all about it.

“It’s good. I like him. He’s a good lad and had a great rise in his career,” said Jamieson when asked about the incident by Fox Sports post-match.

“I love playing against wingers like that and I like to give them a bit of a verbal volley too.”

Asked about the fiery moments in the match – including a melee involving Ola Toivonen and Harrison Delbridge in Stoppage-time - Jamieson said: “It’s a pretty passionate game and tempers flare.

“It’s part of the drama.

“[It finishes] 0-0 but I thought maybe we did enough to win the game.”

City certainly carved out a couple of excellent chances to take all three points.

Lachlan Wales spurned their best chance on 11 minutes when he pushed a shot wide of the far post, while Connor Metcalfe and Craig Noone also tested Victory gloveman Lawrence Thomas after the break.

While Victory weren’t at their fluent best, they did have the ball in the net early in the second-half through Elvis Kamsoba.

The livewire winger produced a cool finish and raced away to celebrate with a somersault, only for VAR to overturn the goal due to an offside.

“It was really a bad game, very scrappy. The positive is we kept a clean sheet and we’re feeling very solid in defence,” was how Victory skipper Ola Toivonen described the 90 minutes.

‘We’ll get better. I’m not worried about it. We just need to get some more speed on the ball.

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“We made it very easy for the two central defenders of City. They are very good when they don’t have to move much and they can play a physical game.

“We played right into their hands. We had a lot of crossing opportunities but the quality wasn’t there today.”

The result means City stretch their unbeaten run against Victory to four games.

It also continues Victory’s struggles in opening round fixtures, having registered just one win in the first round of a season on the last 13 years.

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