It felt like a loss.

Watching Melbourne Victory celebrate the draw with the away fans it was clear the visitors knew they got the better end of the bargain. The glum expressions on the Sydney players’ faces told much the same story. It was one that got away.

Pre-match had a feeling of unreality about it. It was a shock seeing Ivan Necevski start between the sticks but having learnt post-match that the excellent Vedran Janjetovic was 20 minutes late and so had been dropped for disciplinary reasons, my only reaction was “fair enough”. Team discipline and punctuality comes first and I have no problem with Farina’s decision.

Having said that, it was painful watching Ivan early on in the match. Having done nothing but train and watch Janjetovic make the position his own the last few months, he looked shaky on crosses and his general timing was understandably off. After seeing him run 30 metres off his line in a mistimed attempt to clear the ball, my frustration turned to pity.

He came back into the game of course, pulling off a couple of truly outstanding stops and keeping Sydney in the contest. Melbourne hurt us most on the counter and Necevski’s second half display was more in keeping with his abilities, denying Rojas and Pain with terrific saves. Did he do enough to keep his spot on Saturday night? I don’t believe so and remain convinced that Vedran will leave his house at 10am this Saturday.

Meanwhile, the opposition keeper had a blinder. Nathan Coe was easily the visitors’ best, not only saving Del Piero’s unconvincing penalty but denying Sydney time and again with quality saves and perfect positioning. His distribution was superb and a reminder that he was in the frame for a regular Socceroo gig not that long ago. On this performance, it mayl not be long before he is again.

Farina’s other shock decision was one I found more puzzling, choosing to keep Terry Antonis out wide and bringing Brett Emerton into central midfield alongside Peter Triantis. Emerton showed some competence in an unfamiliar role, but Antonis’ move into the position late on brought Farina’s lack of faith in the young man into sharper focus.

I wrote last week of Antonis’ coming of age.  It was my fervent hope that it would not be a flash in the pan and he would repeat his last week's man-of-the-match performance. He didn’t.

He bettered it.

We are seeing a genuine star in the making and the Young Socceroo captain showed what a complete midfielder he has become. Physically he looks the goods and has Anthony Crea to thank for his assistance, but it is his decision-making that has come on in leaps and bounds. Picking his moments like a seasoned pro, the 19 year old sliced through Melbourne defences time and again and would have had a goal had Del Piero not got in his way as he pulled the trigger. And his long passing game was a joy to watch, Antonis making the art of landing footballs on teammates’ feet from 40 yards away appear easy.

Will Brazil 2014 be just a touch too soon for him next year? At this rate, you never know. But I will say this – I hope he plays the #8 role the rest of the season. He is wasted out wide and has much to offer his club in a more central position.

Save for some early, collective lack of concentration, the defence once held up well, mostly shutting out the visitors. Tiago Calvano has stepped up and is looking a class act while Adam Griffiths is maintaining his recent good form, putting his body on the line and dominating the visiting attack.

We did struggle with Melbourne’s pace, especially early on. Marco Rojas is lightning-fast, even pacier than he appears on TV. His and Connor Pain’s speed out wide caused us no end of problems. Seb Ryall and Rhyan Grant did well to keep up but it was a struggle and a terrific contest between the four young, talented footballers.

Playing with a False 9 in Archie Thompson, Victory began in style, controlling the midfield and getting in behind the fullbacks. It was a tactic that worked well and led to their opening goal in the third minute.  

A goal down, Farina readjusted, playing Ryall and Grant deep and pushing his defenders and defensive midfielders higher up, denying space to Thompson, Celeski and Milligan.

It was a frustrating first half with neither side able to assert dominance. A goal down and concern in the stands.

The second half was mainly all Sky Blues, the home side attacking with flair and opening up the visitors’ shaky defence. Antonis starred but Abbas was heavily involved and a thorn in Victory’s side. Victory;s best chances were on the break and they nearly capitalised but for the most part were camped in their own half.

On to Del Piero. There is no point dancing around it, he had a dog of a game and not only by his high standards. Everyone is entitled to an off night and his night was off indeed. Had he been on song he would have had a hatrick. The less said about his performance the better but I am certain the Wanderers will see the best of him come Saturday night. Champions bounce back.

Farina kept three strikers on the bench and all three made massive contributions when given the chance. Joel Chianese burned the grass out wide, Blake Powell’s movement and precise distribution gave us real momentum while Yairo Yau was on the spot to head home the equaliser. The last 20 minutes Melbourne struggled with our pace and it was now the Sky Blues who were getting in behind the Victory fullbacks, this time the visitors reduced to panicked clearances.

To sum up, a 1-1 draw that felt like a loss and we are precariously poised once again. A win would have all but guaranteed us a finals spot but other results have gone our way and we remain fifth with two games to play.

So on to the much anticipated and long sold out derby. There is no denying that Wanderers will start favourites. They are an excellent football side built on sturdy defence that does the simple things well, concentrates with and without the ball and fights for every inch. We may have outscored them this season but our defensive performance comes nowhere near theirs. The table doesn't lie.

Popovic has taken a bunch of also-rans - journeymen like Beauchamp, Topor-Stanley, D’Appuzzo, Bridge and Haliti amongst others - and fashioned them into effective footballers. The side is riding the crest of a wave and is entitled to favouritism. Theirs has been a season of outstanding success.

It will be a hard and physical encounter. The Wanderers went out to injure Del Piero at Allianz last time round and it should surprise no one that they will be looking to tear his legs to shreds once again. They will also take note of Antonis’ recent displays and he too will feature heavily in their coach’s pre-match address. Shinpads front and back will be the order of the day for the Sky Blues.

I feel our best chance is to avoid turning the contest into a war of attrition. I would love to see Chianese start in place of Joel Griffiths, play a touch deeper and really put the Wanderers under pressure, especially if we can pull them out and create some space between Covic and their backline. They may be hard and ruthless but are not renowned for their speed on the turn.

I would also like to see Farina play the same back four for what would be this season’s record three consecutive games. They are just beginning to gel and now is not the time to experiment.

It will be loud and it will be colourful. In years to come this fixture will be played at Homebush in front of 60,000 fans but right now the Wanderers need off-field consolidation and this fixture plays its part.

It is clear that the Parramatta-based club taps into a football community that Sydney never could and most of their fans had rarely, if ever, attended an A-league match prior to 2012. Otherwise, how could they adopt our worst ever chant and turn it into theirs without so much as a mild cringe?

Who Do We Sing For? We Sing For Sydney no more.

Perhaps RBB are paying us royalties.

We’ll take the money and run. I believe we can take the points too. If the Sky Blues keep their composure under extreme physical and mental pressure we have the firepower to take all three points at Parramatta Stadium.