Brisbane Roar has kicked off their pre-season campaign with a solid 1-0 win over Brisbane Premier League side Redlands United.
Despite dominating the Cleveland Showgrounds encounter for large periods, the Hyundai A-League Champions had to rely on a second-half penalty from defender Ivan Franjic to secure the result.
With Matt McKay, Kosta Barbarouses, Mitch Nichols, Rocky Visconte, Matt Jurman and Andrew Redmayne all on international duty, Head Coach Ange Postecoglou named a starting eleven without many of his regular players with Shane Stefanutto wearing the captain-s armband in McKay-s absence.
Daniel Angelucci, Nicolas Smidtz and Nick Fitzgerald were the trialists on show for the Roar.
After a fairly quiet opening period, James Meyer sent a thunderous, right-footed shot bouncing off the inside of the post in the 16th minute, the Brisbane striker unlucky not to find the back of the net in his first match since early February.
Redlands United were happy to keep pressing up the park and provided Postecoglou-s side with a scare just before the break.
An ideal through-ball found Redlands- Rhys Meredith clear on goal but Roar custodian Michael Theoklitos reacted quickly, retreating from his goal line to smother the ball convincingly.
After the interval, the Hyundai A-League side continued their dominance and were given a chance to take the lead in the 51st minute after Fitzgerald was fouled in the penalty area.
Franjic took responsibility from the spot, sending a convincing strike past Redlands ‘keeper Matt Tubbs to give his side the advantage.
Coach Postecoglou was satisfied with his side-s performance on the night, outlining a clear plan for his players in the months leading into the competitive season.
“It was okay, it was our first hit-out,” he said.
“The important thing was that we got 35-40 minutes into most of our key players in the main squad.
“We-ll build up their minutes over the next four or five games and hopefully by the end of July, early August, most of the boys will have had a decent hit-out.”
Brisbane Roar will travel to Brisbane-s northside on Wednesday night in the next of their pre-season fixtures, taking on another Brisbane Premier League side, Peninsula Power.
Player signings from 5-6pm with the match kicking off at 7pm.
