Brisbane Roar stop the rot

At Suncorp Stadium two struggling giants of the Hyundai A-League took to the pitch in search of a fortune-changing win before the New Year. In front of 14,852 fans, it was fireworks and football as Brisbane Roar took the spoils winning 3-1 over Melbourne Victory.

Melbourne got a dream start against Brisbane with star signing and Socceroos golden-child Harry Kewell scoring just his second goal in the Hyundai A-League three minutes into the match. The goal came after an error from Roar captain Matt Smith whose seemingly safe pass back to defender Mohamed Adnan was plucked off by Kewell who ran in needing only Theoklitos to beat. The ensuing goal was the first Kewell had scored in open play, with his first goal coming off a penalty.

Conceding early in the match, once again Brisbane had set themselves up with a mountain to climb just to get back in the game. As usual, they dominated possession in the first half and down the right they tried to exploit the defensively questionable Fabio, and did find some success. But though Brisbane peppered the visitor’s goal with Mitch Nichols, Erik Paartalu and Mohamed Adnan each having a crack, each time they did Victory ‘keeper Ante Covic was largely untroubled. To score that elusive goal they had to step it up a notch.

Then just before the halftime whistle, Brisbane answered the call.

Midfield general Erik Paartalu out-muscled defenders on the left edge of the box before passing it off to Shane Stefanutto in the far corner. Stefanutto’s well weighted curling cross found the diving head of Mitch Nichols, who could do no wrong from close range to level the scores.

Criticised for their lack of penetration in recent matches, the Roar had clearly changed their approach to the match as they desperately sought to end the five-game losing streak which had seen them slip down the ladder. Backing themselves at every chance, in the second half this change truly paid dividends.

Just ten minutes after the restart Rocky Visconte was rewarded for his hard running all game. Latching onto a Berisha pass behind the Melbourne defence Visconte ran onto the ball and with a thumping left foot strike, converted from an acute angle to give Brisbane the lead and launch Postecoglou of his chair for a little celebratory dance rarely seen from the placid coach.

And in the 53rd minute when Franjic took the lead out to two off a Berisha pass right under Covic’s nose, the home fans went bat-crazy.

In the latter part of the match Melbourne had their moments in front of goal to ring in the deficit, but the Roar had tightened their defensive third and made it very difficult for the visitors to put something together to pressure Brisbane ‘keeper Michael Theoklitos.

At fulltime, the sigh of relief from the roaring crowd was audible.

But the question on everybody’s lips – will this be the win that puts Brisbane back on track?

Melbourne Victory:

FOSCHINI, Matthew. FABIO. FRANJIC, Petar. BROXHAM, Leigh. THOMPSON, Archie. VARGAS, Rodrigo. FERREIRA, Diogo. CELESKI, Billy. HERNANDEZ, Carlos. COVIC, Ante. KEWELL, Harry.

Victory Subs:

BREBNER, Grant. ALLSOPP, Daniel. CERNAK, Isaka. THOMAS, Lawrence.

Brisbane Roar:

THEOKLITOS, Michael. SMITH, Matt. STEFANUTTO, Shane. JURMAN, Matthew. FRANJIC, Ivan. PAARTALU, Erik. BERISHA, Besart. VISCONTE, Rocky. ADNAN, Mohamed. NICHOLS, Mitch. BRATTAN, Luke.

Roar Subs:

NAKAJIMA-FARRAN, Issey. MURDOCCA, Massimo. HINGERT, Jack. REDMAYNE, Andrew.

The Football Sack's 'Player of the Year' points:

3 Rocky Visconte

2 Ivan Franjic

1 Harry Kewell