Melbourne City might have failed to reach their first Grand Final, despite being very close in the semi-final clash vs. Jets, but still the Sky Blues enjoyed their best season so far and after finishing the regular campaign in third place they qualified for the first time in their history for the Asian Champions League.
The team’s captain and main goal-machine Fornaroli got injured in the summer and had to miss all games until January, which saw the new coach Joyce bringing in on loan the Scot Ross McCormack. McCormack impressed during his 18 games at the club and he left once Fornaroli was fit with the impressive 14 goals scored.
This and the fact that Jakobsen and Mauk proved very useful both as holding midfielders and in their usual roles in the heart of the defence saw City starting the season with 6 wins in the opening 10 rounds, which quickly establish them in the top four.
City never dropped below fifth place in the standings during the season, with their lowest point being right at the end of 2017 when three defeats in a row were suffered. The response at the start of the new year couldn’t have been more convincing though and the Citizens opened 2018 with 4 wins and 2 draws in their first 6 games.
By that point youngster Arzani started being regularly used from the off, with the Iranian-born winger proving to be one of the most exciting young talents in the league this season, plus experienced Bozanic and Vidosic were signed to become regulars straight away. Also Fornaroli was the usual lethal force up front once welcomed back and all this helped City to achieve their first ever top three finish of a regular season.
This created a buzz in City’s camp come play-off time and the easy 2:0 win over Roar in the Elimination Final only increased it. City were 45 minutes away from their first ever Grand Final when they took the lead against Jets in the semis, but an outrageous and very lucky equaliser shortly after the interval confused the players and despite not being outplayed they lost 1:2.
