Brisbane Roar win in extra time fightback

It was familiar late drama again at Suncorp Stadium as Brisbane Roar clawed their way back from a goal down to score two goals deep in injury time to defeat a resolute Sydney FC 2-1 in an entertaining Hyundai A-League match marred by an all-in brawl after the final whistle.

Sydney FC pressed Brisbane from the kick-off with the pressure clearly visible on the faces of the Roar defenders. Only twenty seconds into the game a mistake at the back from Brisbane led to a corner for Sydney. For the 14,545 Roar fans in attendance it would have brought back memories of their team’s horror start last time they met, and the horrendous losing streak that followed.

The corner was poorly taken but Sydney kept the intensity on the home team in the early stages. Not long after Mark Bridge intercepted another pass deep in the Roar’s half but his strike from outside the 18-yard box shot over the bar. Nicky Carle ghosted into the area soon after and latched onto a flicked-on header by Emerton, but his mistimed attempt and failed to threaten Roar ‘keeper, Theoklitos.

By the 15 minute mark Brisbane appeared to have settled and looked far more likely to score setting up camp within Sydney’s half. On the stroke of the 20th minute Nichols had the best opportunity of the night but his one touch effort sailed over the bar from a decent Franjic cross.

Murdocca was impressive for the Roar with his pacey, weaving runs continually threatening Sydney's penalty area, but their defence continued to hold strong with numbers behind the ball.

Sydney's disciplined approach to keeping Brisbane scoreless paid dividends in the 39th minute when the visitors took the lead through Mark Bridge, who made the most off a good passage of interplay from Carle and Beauchamp in the build up.

As if resurrected, Roar fans cheered with delight when super-subs Henrique and Thomas Broich were introduced after half time, each having had a long spell out of the team with injuries. The Brazilian looked a bit rusty at first but warmed up well, while the German whiz had an instant impact, delivering a menacing pass across the face of goal that Erik Paartalu should have done more with.

Several chances emerged for Brisbane but they just couldn’t find a way through despite some shaky moments from Sydney 'keeper Liam Reddy.

On the 87th minute Besart Berisha thought he’d pegged one back and broken his scoring drought however he was denied by officials for a blatant, and sloppy, offside from the Albanian striker.

What followed next in the final minutes of injury time, was more than breathtaking.

A foul on Paartalu led to the free kick outside the box where a magical, curling kick taken by the Bahraini international Mohamed Adnan ruffled the top left corner of the net to bring the scores back to 1-1.

Sydney were dealt the cruelest of blows moments later when Besart Berisha headed in from point blank off a Nichol's flick to fashion a trademark last gasp Brisbane win in the final minute of play.

Then as the full time whistle blew, spectators watched on in disbelief as a fracas erupted on the sidelines between a handful of Brisbane and Sydney players at the visitors bench, after what appeared to be a curt exchange of words between Brisbane's match-winner, Berisha, and Sydney's hard-nosed Dutch defender, Pascal Bosschaart .

We’ll have more tomorrow on The Football Sack.

For now, Brisbane's epic comeback victory moves the side into outright second on the Hyundai A-League ladder before the chasing Melbourne Heart do battle with Perth Glory in one of tomorrow's two Hyundai A-League fixtures.

Sydney FC:

REDDY, Liam. BOSSCHAART, Pascal. BEAUCHAMP, Michael. EMERTON, Brett. KISEL, Karol. CARLE, Nick. MCFLYNN, Terry. ANTONIS, Terry. BRIDGE, Mark. JAMIESON, Scott. GRANT, Rhyan.

Subs:

RYALL, Sebastian. CAZARINE, Bruno. PETRATOS, Dimitri. NECEVSKI, Ivan.

Brisbane Roar:

THEOKLITOS, Michael. SMITH, Matt. STEFANUTTO, Shane. NAKAJIMA-FARRAN, Issey. FRANJIC, Ivan. PAARTALU, Erik. BERISHA, Besart. VISCONTE, Rocky. ADNAN, Mohamed. NICHOLS, Mitch. BRATTAN, Luke. MURDOCCA, Massimo.

Subs:

JURMAN, Matthew. BROICH, Thomas. REDMAYNE, Andrew. HENRIQUE.

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

3 Mark Bridge

2 Mohamed Adnan

1 Thomas Broich