Brisbane Roar has been beaten by local rivals Gold Coast United 1-0 in the Boxing Day M1 Derby at Skilled Park.
Brisbane Roar has been beaten by local rivals Gold Coast United 1-0 in the Boxing Day M1 Derby at Skilled Park.
A keenly fought contest was decided late in the game by a Daniel Severino penalty.
The opening 15 minutes of the match was tight, with neither side willing to allow the other any easy possession in the middle of the park.
As a consequence of the midfield pressure neither goalkeeper was forced into action during the early stages.
The game gradually sprung into life with both sides creating half chances before Brisbane Roar fashioned the best chance of the match on 37 minutes.
Shane Stefanutto-s perfectly timed run down the left was rewarded by a pinpoint pass by Matt Smith before Stefanutto cut the ball back across goal for Mitch Nichols who didn-t quite catch the striker allowing Jerrard Tyson to make the save in the Gold Coast goal.
It proved to be the best chance for the half with both sides struggling to make an impact in the attacking third of the pitch.
Brisbane started the second half with attacking intent, winning a corner inside the opening minute following the break.
Nothing came of the corner, but a minute later Kofi Danning struck a shot from the edge of the box with Tyson making a good low save.
Immediately down the other end Gold Coast had their best chance to that point of the game when Ben Halloran locked on to a James Brown cutback but hit his effort onto Michael Theoklitos- crossbar.
Maceo Rigters was next to threaten following an outrageous attempt from outside the box which thundered into the post and away for a goal-kick.
Gold Coast United went on the attack, pushing Brisbane back deep into their defensive third of the pitch for extended periods with some desperate defending keeping the home side at bay.
Brisbane made a double change with Rocky Visconte and Jack Hingert coming on to the park and the injection of pace and enthusiasm balanced the play back and the tight midfield battle resumed.
The match turned on referee on Kris Griffith-Jones call that Visconte fouled Halloran inside the box and, despite the best efforts of Theoklitos, Severino scored from the spot to put Gold Coast 1-0 up.
Despite some late desperation to salvage a draw, the hosts held on for an M1 Derby win.
Brisbane Head Coach Ange Postecoglou said his side was lacking some cutting-edge in the front third of the park.
“We were okay, it was a solid first half and we were trying to force the game the whole time,” Postecoglou said.
“We-re just obviously lacking a bit of cutting edge in the front third and we-re not scoring goals.
“If you don-t score goals you can-t win games.
“Overall it was a decent enough game but we-re struggling in the front third and that-s the area we need to address.”
Gold Coast 1 (Daniel Severino 88-)
Brisbane Roar 0
Monday, 26 December 2011
Venue: Skilled Park
Local Kick Off: 6:30pm (7:30pm AEDT)
Referee: Kris Griffiths-Jones
Gold Coast United: 20.Jerrad Tyson [gk], 3.Michael Thwaite (c), 5.Kristian Rees, 6.Paul Beekmans, 12.Dylan Macallister (23.Dylan McGowan 13- (17.Chris Harold 73-)), 14. Ben Halloran, 15.Adama Traore, 16.Maceo Rigters (21.Daniel Severino 81-), 18.James Brown, 22.Peter Jungschlager, 24.Jonas Salley
Substitues not used: 40.Chris O-Connor [gk].
Yellow cards: 18. James Brown (23-), 24. Jonas Salley (41-), 6. Paul Beekmans (50-), 23. Dylan McGowan (66-), 21. Daniel Severino (88-). 17. Chris Harold (90-+3)
Red cards: Nil
Brisbane Roar squad: 1. Michael Theoklitos (GK), 2. Matt Smith (C) (4. Matt Jurman 69-), 3. Shane Stefanutto, 5. Ivan Franjic, 6. Erik Paaratlu, 7. Besart Berisha, 8. Massimo Murdocca (19. Jack Hingert 59-), 9. Kofi Danning, 11. Issey Nakajima-Farran (14. Rocky Visconte 59-), 16. Mohamed Adnan, 17. Mitch Nichols
Substitues not used: 20. Andrew Redmayne (GK)
Yellow cards: 6. Erik Paartalu (24-). 16. Mohamed Adnan (45-+1), 1. Michael Theoklitos (46-), 19. Jack Hingert (71-), 7. Besart Berisha (88-)
Red cards: Nil
