Berisha and Kewell put on a show

Two goal hauls from Brisbane Roar’s Besart Berisha and Melbourne Victory’s Harry Kewell set Suncorp Stadium alight in front of 18,523 on Saturday night. But an Henrique goal from the penalty spot would be the difference, as Brisbane went out eventual 3-2 winners in the hard fought and highly entertaining encounter. 

Clearly attempting to undo their undesirable habit of conceding first at home, Brisbane were on the offensive from the first whistle and it didn’t take long at all before they saw rewards. 

Forty-two seconds in fact. And who else should they score through but the Mania from Albania, Besart Berisha who bamboozled four Victory defenders to skip past and score his 14th goal of the season, a club record. 

Not to be outdone, Victory were demonstrating a new found hunger in attack lead by their main man Harry Kewell. In the 8th minute it was the Socceroos stalwart who got his fluro-clad team level again finishing a sublime individual effort by Marco Rojas, with a pure strike off just one step.

It was end to end football as both sides dazzled the crowd in one of the most entertaining matches of the season.

Berisha got his second of the night in the 32nd minute putting away a cross from Henrique and the Brazilian extended the home side’s lead to 3-1 minutes later when tall timber Erik Paartalu was clipped in the box by defender Ubay Luzardo, leading to a penalty.

Melbourne could only conjure up one more goal through Kewell who pounced on a poor back pass by Broich. 

But when Kewell came off in the 75th minute, for Archie Thompson, Victory looked nowhere near as threatening up front, allowing Brisbane to secure the narrow win. 

Kewell looked in his element, and his two goals took his season tally to seven. Coach Jim Magilton was proud of his star player’s performance, but had to defend his decision to bring him off the pitch while clearly in such good touch. “Spent” after scoring Victory’s only goals on the night, Magilton said they would obviously need Kewell in future matches and preferred not to overwork him.

In a physical match that saw five yellow cards dished out to Victory players, Magilton had to bite his tongue when commenting on referee Jarred Gillett’s performance, specifically the two-footed studs up tackle by Berisha on Hernandez that wasn’t booked. 

“I have to say, some of the referee’s decisions today were baffling. He booked Leijer and then he booked Ubay for lesser tackles and yeah, I think Berisha was a lucky boy,” he said.

“I think the referee...uh, I’m not going to say anything.”

For Brisbane, the moment belonged to Man of the Match, Massimo Murdocca. Playing his 132nd game in the orange kit, Murdocca overtook former teammate Matt McKay as the club record holder.

“It was a very exciting game to be honest,” he said.

“We got the win, and I’m very fortunate. In my hundredth game we won and this milestone we won again, so I’m blessed.”

With Central Coast Mariners overcoming Wellington Phoenix in the earlier match, despite the win at Suncorp, Brisbane Roar are still sitting in second spot on the Hyundai A-League ladder, while Victory languish in eight place eyeing off a much-wanted finals berth.