Brisbane Roar take a look back at the club’s season in a three part review beginning with the league’s opening nine rounds.
The Roar started the campaign with a defeat, but steadied the ship with a strong run of five matches unbeaten, including the amazing 3-3 with the Melbourne Victory.
Round 1: Brisbane Roar 1 (van Dijk 90- (pen)) Gold Coast United 3 (Smeltz 17-, Culina 59-, Robson 90-+2) at Suncorp Stadium.
The Roar began the season with a 3-1 loss at home to the competition new boys Gold Coast United. The home side were in complete control of the first half, racking up possession and shots on goal, but the new Hyundai A-league franchise displayed a ruthless efficiency in front of goal, Shane Smeltz converting the visitor-s only attack of the first half. The Roar upped the tempo in the second half, but United were shock 2-0 leaders when Socceroo Jason Culina finished off a quick counter attack. Sergio van Dijk gave the Roar faithful something to cheer about from the penalty spot late in the match, but Brazilian Robson silenced the home crowd with a United third deep into added on time.
Round 2: Melbourne Victory 3 (Hernandez 32-, 70-, Allsopp 63-) Brisbane Roar 3 (Tiatto 22-, van Dijk 24-, Henrique 36-) at Etihad Stadium.
The Roar picked up their first point of the campaign with an enthralling 3-3 away draw with reigning champions Melbourne Victory. A classic encounter between the league heavyweights, it was Victorian-born Danny Tiatto who opened the scoring, firing a 25 metre thunderbolt into the back of the net. It was quickly 2-0 to the Roar as van Dijk converted his second penalty in as many matches. However, Carlos Hernandez halved the deficit with a stunning shot from the edge of the box. New Roar hero Henrique restored the two goal lead with a mazy, debut solo goal, but the Victory staged a remarkable comeback in the second half. Despite the Roar threatening to open the floodgates, Danny Allsopp pulled a goal back, reacting first to a goal-mouth scramble, before Hernandez sealed the draw with a sublime free-kick.
Round 3: Brisbane Roar 1 (van Dijk 10-) Wellington Phoenix 1 (Greenacre 85-) at Suncorp Stadium.
The Roar had to settle for their second draw in a row as Wellington Phoenix stole a point through a late Chris Greenacre header. After scoring three goals in the previous round, the Roar were in a buoyant mood and it didn-t take them long to open the account, van Dijk continuing his purple patch with a third goal in three matches. Both sides came close to adding to the scoresheet in the second half, but the Roar looked to be heading for their first victory of the season. However, Greenacre had other ideas, breaking Roar hearts with only five minutes to play. Compounding the misery, young gun Tommy Oar was sent off for his second bookable offence.
Round 4: Brisbane Roar 1 (Moore 11-) Central Coast Mariners 0 at Suncorp Stadium
The Brisbane Roar built on consecutive draws with a much anticipated 1-0 victory against the Central Coast Mariners. Craig Moore was the hero of the day, both in defence and attack, powering a Matt McKay corner into the back of the net. The home side had a number of chances to extend the lead at the end of the first half but failed to convert. A McKay injury delivered a blow to the Roar – limping off after a challenge with Mariners Pedj Bojic – but the side battled on despite the influential midfielder-s absence. Van Dijk could have extended his personal scoring spree to four in four, but in the end, Moore-s goal was enough to secure the Roar-s first victory of the season.
Round 5: North Queensland Fury 1 (Fowler 7-) Brisbane Roar 1 (Nichols 84-) at Dairy Farmers Stadium.
The Roar stretched their unbeaten run to four games after coming from behind to earn a late 1-1 draw against North Queensland Fury. The Roar were on the back-foot early in the game, former Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler pouncing on a hopeful long ball to open the scoring. Despite dominating the first half, the Fury were suddenly a man down when defender Paul Kohler was sent to the stands for his second bookable offence. Roar coach Frank Farina tweaked his system at half-time, but despite the greater possession, the Roar were still finding the Fury defence a difficult obstacle to overcome. However, the Roar claimed a share of the spoils in the dying minutes when substitute Mitch Nichols deflected a van Dijk strike beyond Fury goalkeeper Justin Pasfield.
Round 6: Newcastle Jets 0 Brisbane Roar 3 (Henrique 23-, Reinaldo 26-, Miller 70-) at Energy Australia Stadium.
The Roar claimed their second victory of the season with an entertaining 3-0 victory over the Newcastle Jets. Despite losing the services of hard-man Tiatto to injury early in the match, it was the visitors who settled the quickest, Brazilian Henrique sliding the ball home from a sweet pass from compatriot Reinaldo. The Jets hardly had time to restart the match before they were 2-0 down, Reinaldo turning from provider to finisher. The Jets were never out of the game – Sasho Petrovski proving a menace on more than one occasion – but the Roar defence did just enough to keep the home side at bay. The Roar remained on the attack in the second half and added a third late in the match, Charlie Miller volleying home after being put through by Henrique.
Round 7: Brisbane Roar 2 (Henrique 50-, van Dijk 64-) Perth Glory 4 (Sterjovski 1-, Srhoj 41-, Jelic 61-, Pellegrino 75-) at Suncorp Stadium.
The Roar-s unbeaten run of five matches came to an abrupt halt at the hands of Perth Glory who inflicted a 4-2 defeat. Perth took ascendancy of the game within the first minute as a dangerous Mile Sterjovski cross sliced off the back of Josh McCloughan-s head and past Liam Reddy. The home side fought back and looked likely to find an equaliser until Wayne Srhoj nailed the perfect sucker punch just before half-time. The floodgates broke free in the second half with the Roar quickly on the board as Henrique claimed his third strike of the season with a great individual goal. Branko Jelic restored Perth-s two goal buffer with an easy tap in, before van Dijk quickly reduced the deficit again. However, home hopes of a stirring fight-back were quashed with a quarter to play, Adriano Pellegrino-s cross deceiving Reddy and floating into the back of the net.
Round 8: Brisbane Roar 1 (van Dijk 86-) Sydney FC 0 at Suncorp Stadium.
The Roar returned to winning ways after a late van Dijk goal secured a 1-0 victory against southern rivals Sydney FC. Both teams had their opportunities in the match, but solid defensive displays looked likely to end the match in a stalemate. With only minutes to spare, a well worked moved between Charlie Miller and Craig Moore led to van Dijk heading home the winner. The victory pushed the Roar to within a point of the top of the table.
Round 9: Melbourne Victory 2 (Fabiano 2-, Leijer 72-) Brisbane Roar 1 (Reinaldo 11-) at Etihad Stadium.
A depleted Roar fell just short of claiming a valuable away point after falling to a 2-1 defeat to Melbourne Victory. Ravaged by injury and international commitments, the Roar conceded early as Fabiano broke the offside rule and headed home an Archie Thompson cross. But Victory-s lead lasted all of nine minutes, Reinaldo scoring his second of the season. The match was an end-to-end spectacular with the Roar defence working hard to contain Victory-s three prong attack of Fabiano, Thompson and Robbie Kruse, while Reinaldo and Charlie Miller led the Roar-s search for a winner. The Roar-s attacking options were further depleted midway through the second half when Henrique sustained a serious knee injury in a clash with Adrian Leijer. The Victory now had control of the match, and with the Roar defence sitting back, stole the match through the unlikely source of central defender Leijer. After the match, it was confirmed Henrique-s injury would sideline him for six-to-eight weeks.
For a look at all the action, check out the Season 2009/10 in Review – Part One gallery
