Brisbane Roar have recorded their first win of the Hyundai A-League 2010/11 season, beating traditional rivals Sydney FC 1-0 thanks to a well-taken second half goal from captain Matt McKay.
After a goalless draw in the opening game of the season and the bye in the round two, Brisbane were eager to prove themselves against the reigning Hyundai A-League champions who were without attacking duo Mark Bridges and Alex Brosque.
The home side started strongly, with the first chance of the game falling to Mitch Nichols who was played into space just inside the penalty box, but the midfielder put his shot just wide of the post.
Brisbane were dominating possession and should-ve been ahead on 17 minutes when a McKay free kick deflected off the foot of a Sydney defender and appeared to cross the line.
However, it was deemed to have not crossed the line by the assistant referee despite claims from the Roar frontline.
Shane Stefanutto almost had his first goal for the Roar seven minutes later, but his volley from the edge of the box soared just over the Sydney goal.
Nichols had the Brisbane-s next chance, pouncing on a through ball from Kosta Barbarouses, but the ball was held by the former Roar keeper Liam Reddy in his first outing against his old side.
Despite the men in orange dominating chances on goal, Sydney-s Sebastian Ryall found himself in some rare space in the final third but failed to test Roar custodian Michael Theoklitos and the teams went into the break goalless.
Brisbane began the second stanza much like they did the first, and their perseverance finally paid off in the 53rd minute when McKay scored the Roar-s first goal of the season.
The Roar skipper played a sweet one-two with Thomas Broich, and when Hayden Foxe in the Sky Blues defense failed to deal with a loose ball, McKay made no mistakes from the edge of the penalty area, slotting it past his former teammate to give Brisbane the lead.
Sydney almost had an equaliser three minutes later, but Scott Jamieson-s header clipped the top of the crossbar.
Brisbane kept pushing, and Barbarouses went close next, but his right-footed shot fell too wide of Reddy-s goal.
With nine minutes to go, the lively Henrique was replaced by fellow countryman Reinaldo and the big Brazilian went close to increasing the Roar-s lead with his first touch of the game, but despite a few chances at goal in the dying stages, the game ended 1-0.
The result means Brisbane has now lost only once to Sydney in the past 11 meetings between the sides.
Brisbane Roar captain and goal scorer Matt McKay was happy with his decisive goal and said it was the result of hard work on the training field.
“I-ve been working hard on my finishing because I cop a lot of flack from the boys,” McKay said.
“I-ll keep working on it, I-ve still got a long way to go but I-m happy to get one tonight and three points always helps.”
Roar coach Ange Postecoglou was pleased with the way his team played, especially after his side only managed a point against Gold Coast United in round one.
“I-m really pleased with the performance, you can get results from many ways but I thought we backed up again,” Postecoglou said.
“On the back of the Gold Coast performance I thought we were unlucky, I thought the performance was good but we were even better tonight.”
Postecoglou said he was looking forward to continuing the momentum against Wellington Phoenix on Friday.
“We want games, we-ve had enough time off. The boys are ready to play so we-re pleased there is another game soon,” he said.
“We just want to play games now and I think they are enjoying playing which is also important.”
Brisbane Roar 1
Sydney FC 0
Saturday, 21 August 2010
Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Local kick-off: 7.30pm
Referee: Chris Beath
Crowd: 10,339
Brisbane Roar line-up: 1.Michael THEOKLITOS (gk), 2.Matt SMITH, 3.Luke DEVERE, 4.Shane STEFANUTTO, 5.Ivan FRANJIC (23. Milan SUSAK 18-), 6.Erik PAARTALU, 7.Kosta BARBAROUSES, 10.HENRIQUE (11. REINALDO 81-), 15.Matt McKAY (c), 17. Mitch NICHOLS (18. Luke BRATTAN 68-), 22.Thomas BROICH
Substitutes not used: 20. Andrew REDMAYNE (gk),
Yellow cards: 10. HENRIQUE 40-
Red cards: Nil
Sydney FC line-up: 1. Liam REDDY (gk), 2. Sebastian RYALL, 3. Stephan KELLER, 5. Hayden FOXE (12. Shannon COLE 81-) , 8. Stuart MUSIALIK, 10. Nick CARLE (6. Hirofumi MORIYASU 77-), 11. Kofi DANNING (7. Brendan GAN 77-), 15. Terry MCFLYNN (c), 21. Scott JAMIESON, 22. Sung-Hwan BYUN, 23. Rhyan GRANT
Substitutes not used: 20. Ivan NECEVSKI (gk)
Yellow cards: 5. Hayden FOXE 11-, 21. Scott JAMIESON 39-, 22. Sung-Hwan BYUN 45-
Red cards: Nil
