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It took a whole half of football for the diminutive
Brazilian and his team-mates to get going – his half-time positional change
proving an instant impact.
The start of the second period saw Brisbane Roar
coach Mike Mulvey move Henrique from the wide midfield role he fruitlessly
occupied in the first half to centrally up front. Three minutes later the
slippery fish was celebrating the opener, volleying home after a genius Luke
Brattan pass picked him out with loads of space and time in the box.
It was a bitter blow for Heart, who spurned a handful of first-half chances in similar, one-on-one positions.
The visitors came close to levelling proceedings on the hour mark when Iain Ramsay almost emulated his British-based namesake, firing a thunderous drive from distance against the crossbar.
But Silva-fish soon proved the smiling assassin once again, loitering Heart’s penalty area and volleying home his second, albeit from what looked like an offside position. The goal came on the end of nice lead up play by newly introduced Dimitri Petratos, whose stinging shot was parried away by Andrew Redmayne straight to Henrique.
Roar had just consigned Heart to their 16th consecutive winless away game and began toying with their opposition. The only fishy business was now coming from the clearly disheartened visitors.
Long spells of Brisbane possession were rewarded when skipper Matt Smith made it two goals from two at Suncorp Stadium, getting on the end of a Matt McKay square across the box.
It was a fitting end to a whale of an afternoon for Mulvey and his side, although the Roar coach admitted his side was lucky to go in level at the interval.
“In the first half we were rabbits caught in the headlights,” Mulvey said.
“We were clueless at times in terms of how we played, right from the back.”
Ultimately, Mulvey conceded Henrique should never have gone fishing in the middle of the park.
"To be perfectly honest I expected Melbourne Heart to come and sit back and play on the counter, so my theory was that he wouldn't have to expend so much energy in the game,” he said.
"But when Melbourne Heart sort of flipped that over and they actually played very aggressively with a high press, he was having to go deep for the ball and get forward.
“It nullified the effect that I thought he would have, because I thought it would be a very tight game in their half where we might have to break them down.
“Once we got him central he scored within a few minutes."
Whether Henrique is a shark in front of goal or, as Mulvey puts it, “the slippery eel or something”, his move up front brought the goals and with them top spot on the A-League ladder.
Brisbane Roar: 1.Michael THEO (gk), 2.Matthew SMITH (c), 5. Ivan FRANJIC, 10. HENRIQUE (28. Brandon BORRELLO 78’), 13. Jade NORTH, 17.Matt McKAY, 18.Luke BRATTAN (14. Diogo FERREIRA 79’), 19.Jack HINGERT, 22.Thomas BROICH, 26. Corey BROWN, 29.Kwame YEBOAH (23. Dimitri PETRATOS 64’)
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| Top of the table again. Credit: Brisbane Roar |
It was a bitter blow for Heart, who spurned a handful of first-half chances in similar, one-on-one positions.
The visitors came close to levelling proceedings on the hour mark when Iain Ramsay almost emulated his British-based namesake, firing a thunderous drive from distance against the crossbar.
But Silva-fish soon proved the smiling assassin once again, loitering Heart’s penalty area and volleying home his second, albeit from what looked like an offside position. The goal came on the end of nice lead up play by newly introduced Dimitri Petratos, whose stinging shot was parried away by Andrew Redmayne straight to Henrique.
Roar had just consigned Heart to their 16th consecutive winless away game and began toying with their opposition. The only fishy business was now coming from the clearly disheartened visitors.
Long spells of Brisbane possession were rewarded when skipper Matt Smith made it two goals from two at Suncorp Stadium, getting on the end of a Matt McKay square across the box.
It was a fitting end to a whale of an afternoon for Mulvey and his side, although the Roar coach admitted his side was lucky to go in level at the interval.
“In the first half we were rabbits caught in the headlights,” Mulvey said.
“We were clueless at times in terms of how we played, right from the back.”
Ultimately, Mulvey conceded Henrique should never have gone fishing in the middle of the park.
"To be perfectly honest I expected Melbourne Heart to come and sit back and play on the counter, so my theory was that he wouldn't have to expend so much energy in the game,” he said.
"But when Melbourne Heart sort of flipped that over and they actually played very aggressively with a high press, he was having to go deep for the ball and get forward.
“It nullified the effect that I thought he would have, because I thought it would be a very tight game in their half where we might have to break them down.
“Once we got him central he scored within a few minutes."
Whether Henrique is a shark in front of goal or, as Mulvey puts it, “the slippery eel or something”, his move up front brought the goals and with them top spot on the A-League ladder.
Brisbane Roar: 1.Michael THEO (gk), 2.Matthew SMITH (c), 5. Ivan FRANJIC, 10. HENRIQUE (28. Brandon BORRELLO 78’), 13. Jade NORTH, 17.Matt McKAY, 18.Luke BRATTAN (14. Diogo FERREIRA 79’), 19.Jack HINGERT, 22.Thomas BROICH, 26. Corey BROWN, 29.Kwame YEBOAH (23. Dimitri PETRATOS 64’)
Melbourne Heart: 1.Andrew REDMAYNE (gk), 2.
Jeremy WALKER, 3. Robbie WIELAERT (c), 6. Patrick GERHARDT, 7. Iain RAMSAY (14.
Golgol MERBRAHTU 78’), 8.Massimo MURDOCCA, 11.Michael MIFSUD, 15.David
WILLIAMS, 16.Aziz BEHICH, 23. Mate DUGANDZIC (28. Paulo RETRE 88’), 25. Andrea
MIGLIORINI (21. Stefan MAUK 64’)
Crowd: 15,011