Melbourne Victory coach Patrick Kisnorbo has a VERY close brush with wayward ball as A-League official looks on in shock

Selection headaches were almost the least of Melbourne Victory coach Patrick Kisnorbo’s concerns on the weekend after a near miss with a wayward football that came within centimetres of his head. 

Kisnorbo has enjoyed a bright start as coach of the Melbourne Victory and notched up another win in their 3-1 result over Western United in the Westgate Derby at AAMI Park on Sunday.

However during the match the new manager was pacing the sidelines and didn’t notice a kick that had sent a football screaming in his direction.

He reacted in shock as the ball whistled perilously close to his head, with fourth official Lachlan Keevers also stunned as he watched the incident play out. 

‘I think he didn’t know it was a football, I think he thought it was one of the seagulls down at AAMI Park,’ one of the commentators said.

‘Kisnorbo has almost copped one in the head there,’ added the other commentator.

‘How about the reaction from Lachie Keevers as well.’

Melbourne Victory coach Patrick Kisnorbo came close to being struck in the head with a ball

A-League fourth official Lachlan Keevers could only look on in shock at the incident

It was another moment of fortune for Kisnorbo who is enjoying a strong start to his coaching tenure at the Victory

Despite the near miss, Kisnorbo was pleased with his side’s move to immediately take control of the game and their ability to maintain this level across the subsequent exchanges.

He did, however, note that he wanted to see his side be more ruthless.

‘We scored some goals, which is good,’ he said.

‘But I still think we need to keep improving in our final third finishing aspect because we’re getting into some great positions, and it’s great for the players for doing that, but we need to capitalise on that.’

Meanwhile Western United coach John Aloisi hit out at his side’s lack of intensity.

Taking control of Sunday’s game almost straight from the opening kickoff, Victory led after just nine minutes through Zinedene Machach.

Noah Botic equalised for United against the run of play in the 19th minute but there were to be no repeats of that in the second half as the hosts fell to their third defeat on the season.

Nikos Vergas restored Victory’s lead just three minutes into the second half, and Bruno Fornaroli sealed the result moments after coming on in the 67th minute – to a rapturous reception from the Victory faithful as he gained his most minutes since a round one start.

Melbourne Victory players celebrate their derby win over Western United at AAMI Park

Without skipper Ben Garuccio, it could have been even worse for United, with their rivals spurning a multitude of chances to streak ahead, especially in the opening exchanges.

Cutting a furious figure post-game, Aloisi lamented his side’s inability to match Victory’s intensity

‘The first thing is to match the fight, that’s the first thing,’ the United coach said.

‘We’re losing every second ball at the start of the game. That’s why they got on top of us.

‘You can have a bad day, you can play a bad game but you can always run and you can always fight.’

United will host Macarthur next week and the coach promised a reaction.

‘We’ve shown in the first five games of the season that, I don’t care who we put out there, we’re matching it with everyone,’ said Aloisi.

‘We want effort next game and we will get effort next game because we’ll demand effort.

‘It’s not all doom and gloom because one bad performance out of the first six games is not doom and gloom.’