AS Dennis Denuto would say in The Castle, it was just “the vibe”.
Besart Berisha is normally Melbourne Victory’s penalty taker, but it was Mark Milligan who took the 96th minute spot kick in Saturday night’s dramatic derby that netted a 1-0 win for Melbourne Victory.
Milligan reminds us that “before I left I was the penalty taker”, but it wasn’t the 2014-15 championship-winning captain pulling rank.
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Nor was it Berisha being sacked after several recent penalty misses, including one in round 10 against Adelaide.
“It was just one of those moments. I was very confident,” Milligan said.
“We had a quick look about and the feeling I got from him was that he was happy for me to take it. So that’s what happened.
“There’s always different feelings in different parts of games. Bes, being a striker, is always confident he can do the job, but I’ve taken quite a few for Victory as well.
“It was just a glance about. Jimmy (Troisi) was involved too. In the end I found myself standing over it.”
Milligan was forthright upon reuniting with Victory that an A-League return wasn’t at the top of his priority list for 2017-18, with a mooted move to the English Championship falling through.
But the Socceroos vice-captain agreed that on Saturday night, when he was celebrating his successful spot kick, there was nowhere he’d rather have been.
“It became what is every footballer’s dream,” he said.
“To take a penalty well past the 90th minute to win the match.”
After five games for Victory at Etihad Stadium that failed to net a win, Milligan also said the return to AAMI Park for the first time this season was special.
“Sitting on the bench in the first half I got a good chance to sit and really have a look around and feel that buzz,” he said.
“And while Etihad is a magnificent stadium and fantastic to play at, the feeling and the atmosphere at AAMI is a different level.”
Milligan said it wasn’t until the day before the game that he knew he would be fit to play having injured his hamstring in round 10.
He revealed it probably wasn’t 100 per cent right to go, but he says he is fine to play high-flying Newcastle at AAMI on Friday night.
“I didn’t want to miss out on the derby,” he said.
“I kept it right on the edge. Just short of where it probably should have been, but I wanted to give myself every chance to be involved.”
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