A first half brace from Anthony Proia and a strike from Nick Fitzgerald was enough for Brisbane Roar to overcome Adelaide United 3-1 in their National Youth League clash at Goodwin Park on Sunday.
A first half brace from Anthony Proia and a strike from Nick Fitzgerald was enough for Brisbane Roar to overcome Adelaide United 3-1 in their National Youth League clash at Goodwin Park on Sunday.
Adelaide’s first half goal from Awer Mabil was not enough, though they can count themselves a little unlucky after hitting the woodwork late on in proceedings.
From the outset the Roar defended high up the pitch, not allowing Adelaide-s players to dwell on the ball even as they were playing it out of defence, while the lively Nick Fitzgerald probed down the left when the side in orange were in possession.
On 13 minutes good build-up play by Brisbane and slack marking from Adelaide resulted in a series of rapid Roar passes in the United box, which ended with Kwame Yeboah laying the ball on to Proia, who finished from point blank range to give the home side a 1-0 lead.
Following the Roar goal, Adelaide enjoyed their first sustained attacking spell, testing the Brisbane defence with a series of corners, though Matthew Acton’s goal was not seriously threatened.
United finally did break through after 21 minutes when central defender Jordan Elsey played a sumptuous long ball from deep to find Mabil, who showed a burst of speed before finishing well past Acton to tie the scores at 1-1.
Brisbane almost regained their lead moments later when a stinging Rocky Visconte free kick from wide on the right clattered against the crossbar and bounced down, but did not cross the line.
Three minutes before half-time, Yeboah and Proia combined again to put Brisbane in front once more.
Yeboah crossed from the right after a darting run, and Proia finished neatly to earn himself a brace.
The hosts went into the break with a 2-1 lead, though there was little between the sides in an evenly contested first half.
With their confidence up, the Roar looked a level above United after the break.
The ever-lurking Proia had the first good chance of the second period, firing over after putting himself in a good position in front of goal after 48 minutes.
The Roar deservedly doubled their lead after 58 minutes through Fitzgerald, who converted Corey Brown’s cross after 58 minutes to make the score 3-1.
With Adelaide looking somewhat deflated, Brisbane defended solidly for the majority of the half, though United were did create two excellent chances on the break, through substitute Nikola Mileusnic and captain Liam Wooding, though both their shots crashed against the Brisbane crossbar.
United may feel they were unfortunate not to notch another goal, though the result was a fair indication of the long periods of dominance that the Roar enjoyed.
Brisbane Roar 3 (Proia 13, 42, Fitzgerald 58)
Adelaide United 1 (Mabil 21)
Brisbane Roar: 2. Mitch Nichols, 3. Corey Brown (c), 4. Lachlan Jackson, 6. Ross Archibald (9. Benjamin Liftin 57), 8. Yuji Takahashi, 10. Kwame Yeboah (7. Dong Hyun Do 45), 11. Anthony Proia, 13. Kenneth Dougall (19. Sam Cronin 57), 14. Rocky Visconte, 15. Nick Fitzgerald, 20. Matthew Acton (gk)
Adelaide United: 1. John Hall (gk), 2. Shaun Harvey, 3. Jordan Elsey, 4. Daniel Bowles (11. Nikola Mileusnic 45), 5. Scott Nagel, 7. Liam Wooding (c), 8. Thomas Briscoe (9. John Karatzas 62), 10. Dion Kirk (12. Allen Welsh 62), 14. Awer Mabil, 15. Jacob Melling, 16. Anthony Golec
