“The way he backheeled it, it sort of bounced up perfectly for me and I got there ahead of Donks [Victory defender James Donachie] and put it in. It was a great team goal. We played some good stuff and it’s nice to get the rewards, scoring goals like that.”

Yet, while Maclaren may have escaped without any major damage to his hamstring, a different fate may await Victory’s Robbie Kruse.

Providing a clear spark to his side when he came on as a second-half substitute, the Victory attacker walked from the field clutching at his hamstring in the 84th minute of the Derby - heading straight down the player's race and into the rooms for treatment.

Though he didn’t appear to have a noticeable limp when he left the building at the end of the evening, his unfortunate battles with injury this season mean that Victory fans have a nervous wait ahead of them as they sweat on the 31-year-old’s fitness.

“We have to wait for tomorrow,” Victory boss Carlos Salvachua said post-game. “He didn’t feel good with problems in the hamstring and he went out. And then, of course, it was more difficult to finish the game with ten players.”

Regardless of Kruse’s status, though, Maclaren and his City teammate’s thoughts will now turn to a trip across the dutch to take on Wellington Phoenix in round 19.

Having finally secured a win in a major game, an upbeat Maclaren said that the time was right for City to get on a genuine roll as the season wound down.

“[The derby win is] massive, if you go in [the changing room] now, it’s something that we deserve,” he said. “Over the year we’ve had people say that we’re a bit inconsistent and we know ourselves we’ve been that.

“But this is the sort of game that can be the catalyst that can turn things around.

“I think it’s nine games to go, so we’ll go way to Wellington with some confidence even though they’re playing some good stuff. To win your last derby of the season is great for us.”