Etihad Stadium was greeted with a stunned silence after Cahill’s half volley under the half hour mark found the back of the net from 40 metres out.

But just before entering the fray, City players studied the way Thomas took his positions. Notably, in the International Champions Cup (ICC), when Thomas was caught off his line by Juventus defender Carlos Blanco Moreno who scored from 45 metres out at the MCG.

Cahill said Victory’s style was reliant on Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou’s tactics which had a 4-3-3 formation with Thomas playing a sweeping role.

“He got caught cold (Thomas), but it’s not by fluke, it’s because we literally watched a video before we just walked out and (the coaches) said if you can ‘see if you can catch him off his line’,” Cahill said.

“That’s what happened and that’s why I was pointing the finger to Michael Valkanis (assistant coach) and John van’t Schip (head coach) because it worked.

“I think it’s up there (the goal), you’re in the game and that’s what I’ve done my whole career, it’s just a moment and I’ve taken it.

“I didn’t even look up too much and he got caught, we just wanted to keep him honest and in the end it kept him back, it was a great goal and it was more setting the tone for the game and the goal was fantastic."

Despite his success at club and international level, Cahill believes he still needs to prove himself as an A-League player following his debut goal in the 4-1 drubbin of their crosstown rivals.

“I don’t rub anything in...this is football so I can’t expect them to cheer me if I score against them.

"But I'm not going to provoke them, they’ve been around a lot longer than me in Australia as in domestically,” Cahill said.

“I have to prove my worth and in the end last night I feel hopefully I’ve gained some respect with the intent of football, it’s not some old man running around making up the numbers, we’re running together."

Of his goal he said: “It’s awesome for me, but more importantly it’s what happened after that, it’s what we did after that."

Cahill, who has in the Merseyside derby for Everton, drew comparisons with the intensity of last night's clash.

“Overseas is on a whole different level, when you play in a Merseyside derby, things like that obviously has a different flavour," he said. "But last night the key was to keep them quiet (City players) as soon as possible with our football.

“From the start, press them, not let them play and obviously whoever scored the first goal we knew straight away we didn’t have to say much other than listen to the reaction because it was pretty quiet from what we could hear after the first goal went in.”