John Aloisi's men stifled their Melbourne rivals in a battle of defence and attack. Aloisi admitted as much post-game, saying he was impressed by the tactical intricacies of the 0-0 match. Heart's defence was the most fascinating aspect of the derby and was in stark contrast to their approach in last year's round one meeting.

In that match, Heart adopted a "full-court press" in defence, testing Victory's ability to play through intense pressure in a new and unfamiliar system. On that occasion, Heart's defensive approach was incredibly successful, with Victory's insistence on playing out at every opportunity causing multiple dangerous turnovers, two of which lead to Heart goals. Heart never allowed their opponents to settle in possession and fully deserved their 2-1 derby win.

Heart’s defensive approach from the previous Round 1 derby, where a full court press was used. This approach often forced Victory to pass back to debutant goalkeeper Lawrence Thomas. Photograph: Graphic

Since then, Victory's ability to play through a high pressing opponent has improved out of sight, whereas Heart were unable to match their early performance, finishing ninth last season, 17 points and six places behind Melbourne Victory.

Victory's stark improvement meant a similar defensive approach this time around would have played into their hands, as their major attacking threat comes when they look to exploit space in behind their opponents. However, one thing they haven't quite mastered consistently is the ability to break down a team who limits such space. Heart's game plan instead centred around preventing Victory from getting in behind their defence.

"We had a game plan and the boys did really well defensively; we didn't allow them get in behind us too many times," Aloisi said post-game.

The most logical way to prevent a team from getting in behind your defence is to sit back, and Melbourne Heart did just that – setting their defensive block up around half way. The fact that eight out of the top 10 passers in the match were Melbourne Victory players demonstrated Heart's willingness to concede possession.

Key to Victory's formation, where the central attackers drop into midfield to create space for the wide forwards to move into midfield to create space for the wide forwards to break into, is the off-the-ball movements of the 'false 9' or 'dual 10' players. But Heart devised a defensive plan which, like Perth's in the 2012-13 elimination final, prevented them from receiving possession in their preferred attacking positions.

New recruits Mitch Nichols and James Troisi dropped into midfield, positioning themselves either side of Heart's central midfield duo of Massimo Murdocca and Andrea Migliorini in an attempt to receive the ball in dangerous positions to pick out the runs of the converging wide duo of Connor Pain and Archie Thompson.

In order to nullify this, instead of defending in a straight line 4-4-2, Heart's wide midfielders, Mate Dugandzic and David Williams, positioned themselves in advance of their deeper central midfielders which prevented passes into the feet of Troisi and Nichols on either side of Murdocca and Migliorini. And whenever they were able to pick out Troisi and Nichols, Heart were quick to close the ball, breaking up play with tackles and, on occasions, fouls.

Unsurprisingly, Williams (6/7), Murdocca (4/5), Migliorini (4/5) and Dugandzic (2/4) topped the tackle charts, as they harried the ball carrier in midfield.

This frustrated Victory, who were unable to get into an attacking rhythm. Despite seeing considerably more of the ball, Victory looked vulnerable on the counter attack and Heart created more goal scoring opportunities in the scoreless draw.

With this performance, Aloisi again proved that he has the tactical flexibility to frustrate their cross-city rivals. Heart's structure defensive approach and counter-attacking style was the most promising feature of the encounter, but Aloisi and Heart now have to prove they can play at a similar level for the remaining 26 rounds, something they failed to do last season.