Melbourne City hit Victory for six in derby record

Melbourne City heaped pressure on A-League rivals Melbourne Victory and their under-fire coach Grant Brebner with a record-breaking 6-0 derby demolition.

The drama began early on Saturday night as Socceroos striker Jamie Maclaren blasted a spot-kick against the crossbar at Marvel Stadium.

But the miss mattered little as the rampant visitors dominated proceedings and took a first-half lead through golden boot leader Maclaren before tearing their fierce rivals to shreds after the break.

The six-goal margin was the greatest in 33 meetings between the Melbourne rivals, eclipsing City's 4-0 win almost seven years ago to the day, when they were still known as Melbourne Heart.

City's third successive win saw them surge into fifth spot with a game in hand on each of the sides above them.

In stark contrast, Victory are showing few signs of life at the foot of the table with just two wins from 10 matches this season.

Maclaren's eighth goal of the season was somewhat fortuitous when it deflected off the inside of his left leg in the 34th minute and dribbled over the line.

City winger Andrew Nabbout tormented his former club throughout the night despite the constant jeers of Victory fans and his trickery teed up Florin Berenguer to double the lead after the break.

Rostyn Griffiths rose high to thunder home the third with his head within 11 minutes of the restart and the drubbing looked almost complete when Maclaren's flick on half-way allowed Connor Metcalfe a free run at goal.

Metcalfe rifled a left-foot strike in off the post but wasn't done yet, adding a second when he tapped home Maclaren's square ball from close range, making it two goals in three minutes.

Stefan Colakovski finished off the rout when he fired a low shot past helpless Max Crocombe in injury time.