Yonatan Cohen proved the hero as Melbourne City claimed the bragging rights over crosstown rivals Melbourne Victory with a 1-0 victory to lift the A-League Grand Final title on Saturday.

 

Cohen scored in the 10th minute before the disciplined City shut down Victory with gritty defending in a thrilling second-half.

City claimed their second title having reached the grand final for the fifth time in the last six years.

 

It was a bitter disappointment for Victory, who lost at the final hurdle for the second straight season to once again fall short of equalling Sydney FC's record of five titles.

 

Amid a tense atmosphere inside the stadium, Victory made the early running with striker Daniel Arzani providing headaches for City's defence.

 

But City, entering with an unbeaten eight-game streak, struck against the run of play on their first foray forward.

Max Caputo's effort bounced off the upright and straight to Cohen, who hammered the third fastest goal in A-League grand final history.

 

City continued to threaten on the counter attack and a powerful header from Mathew Leckie was on target but goalkeeper Jack Duncan came to Victory's rescue.

 

Arzani tried to force an equaliser for Victory, but he had little room to weave his silky skills against the swarming City defence.

Cohen opened the second-half with a wickedly curling strike from the edge of the box only for Duncan to produce another outstanding full-stretched save.

 

Tensions flared between the teams as City missed several golden opportunities to end Victory's resistance.

 

But their steely defence held up as City erupted in jubilation when the whistle sounded.

Lion City Sailors completed a clean sweep of domestic titles with a 1-0 victory over BG Tampines Rovers in the Singapore Cup final at Jalan Besar Stadium on Saturday.

The Cup was Lion City's third title of the season, adding to their Community Shield and Singapore Premier League (SPL) triumphs, having also finished runners-up in the AFC Champions League Two™ 2024/25.

 

Lion City spent much of the first period camped in the opposition half as Belgian winger Maxime Lestienne linked up with wing-back Hami Syahin to create several left-footed efforts.

 

Tampines failed to create any openings, finishing the first half without a single attempt on goal as the teams went into the break deadlocked.

The Sailors went ahead in the 49th minute when midfielder Song Ui-young pounced on full-back Milos Zlatkovic's error and played the ball out wide to Lestienne, who drove a low cross to the feet of midfielder Bart Ramselaar.

 

With his back to goal, the 28-year-old Dutchman swivelled and drilled his shot into the roof of the net for his sixth goal of the tournament.

 

Tampines thought they had equalised in the 57th minute when forward Itsuki Enomoto tapped in a cross from playmaker Seia Kunori, but his effort was struck off for offside as Lion City Sailors held on to lift the title.

Nam Dinh secured a thrilling 3-2 victory over 12th-placed Song Lam Nghe An to move ever closer to retaining their title.

 

With just two matches remaining, Nam Dinh hold a five-point cushion over Hanoi FC.

Brazilian forward Brenner opened the scoring in the 11th minute with Benjamin Kuku equalising for Song Lam in the 27th.

 

Brenner restored Nam Dinh's lead in the 40th minute and Kevin Pham Ba made it 3-1 just before half-time. Ba Quyen Phan pulled one back in the 69th minute for Song Lam.

 

Second placed Hanoi FC beat Cong An Ha Noi 2-0, Viettel drew 2-2 with Hai Phong and Thanh Hoa were held 1-1 by Binh Dinh.