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12Mar22
Home Sweet Home For Brisbane Roar
by Jeremy Ruane
Brisbane Roar climbed off the bottom of the Isuzu Ute A-League table on March 12, deservedly downing Wellington Phoenix 2-1 as they made a triumphant return to their home ground, Moreton Daily Stadium, in front of 5,883 fans.
They may have been bottom of the table going into this contest, but the Queensland team haven't played on home turf for a few weeks now, and relished the chance to get back to winning ways at a venue where they'd won thrice and drawn once in the five games they've played in Redcliffe so far this season.
Supplementing this was the fact that Wellington are poor travellers. Going into this match, they'd played four games outside Sydney - their home away from home this season - and had a point to show for their efforts. And having played just three days prior … if you were a betting man, this had "home banker" written all over it!
And so it proved. Brisbane were swiftly on the front foot, and were rewarded for their initiative by opening the scoring in the seventh minute. Jay O'Shea did the spadework on the right before slipping a pass to new signing, Ryo Wada, whose inch-perfect first-time cross found Rahmat Akbari rising in between defenders to guide a six-yard header beyond Oliver Sail's flailing fingertips - 1-0 Brisbane.
They went close to doubling their advantage on the quarter-hour, Jesse Daley rattling the side-netting after Wada had created more problems for Wellington. Brisbane's Japanese recruit looks like becoming a fan favourite very quickly - a clever player.
Two minutes later, Wellington mustered their first threat on goal in the contest. David Ball and Jaushua Sotirio worked a one-two before the former scythed inside and picked out Sam Sutton racing up on the left flank. The fullback cut inside and let fly, but it was only the side-netting which bulged.
Ball and Sotirio combined again soon afterwards, with Ball, who picked up his fifth booking of the season in this contest, again taking the initiative. His cross picked out Gael Sandoval, whose twenty yard volley narrowly cleared the crossbar, a feat he repeated ten minutes later after Alex Rufer's raking pass released Sotirio down the right to the by-line, from where he delivered a cross into the Mexican's stride.
Another raking pass from Rufer picked out Ben Waine in the 33rd minute, but his first-time drive was pawed away from the top near corner by Brisbane goalkeeper Jordan Holmes, who had been busy by the deeds of Waine and company as Wellington built up a head of steam in pursuit of the equaliser.
They thought they had it ten minutes before half-time, when Sandoval and Ball combined to present Waine with another shooting chance. Scott Neville bravely blocked this effort - he had a fine game in the home team's rearguard, while Holmes grabbed a looping header from Waine five minutes before half-time.
By which time Wellington had lost their captain to injury, Rufer going down after a challenge for which he was booked by referee Tim Danaskos. That was a minor issue compared to the knee injury he picked up in the incident which forced his premature departure from the fray, a setback which Wellington can ill afford, given they're about to lose a handful of players to the All Whites for their World Cup qualifying campaign in Qatar.
Rufer's replacement, Nick Pennington, wasted little time in getting into the swing of things, his 42nd minute pass inviting Sotirio to stretch his legs through the middle of the park. Holmes grabbed the ball right on the edge of his penalty area - one step more and he'd have been sent off, as handling outside the box would have prevented a goalscoring opportunity.
Right on half-time, a deep cross from Juan Lescano was gathered in by Nicholas Olsen, who worked a one-two with O'Shea before darting towards the by-line and drilling a low cross into the goalmouth. Akbari helped it on towards Lescano, whose close-range effort was denied by a fine save right on the line by Sail.
Wellington swiftly cleared their lines, prompting a counter-attack, Sotirio leading the charge. At least, he was until Neville produced a superbly timed tackle to snuff out the attack and bring the half to a close.
As had been the case in the first spell, Brisbane was first to fire a shot in anger in the minutes after half-time, with Lescano's low drive being deflected to safety in the 51st minute, to which Wellington responded via a long-range effort from Pennington which drifted past the post.
The visitors were looking out of sorts in this match, and looked to pep things up via the introduction of
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Gary Hooper on the hour. Not before Ball had seen his deflected twenty-five yarder greedily grabbed by Holmes, however.
Ben Old was also introduced at this time, and the newcomers were swiftly up to speed (which didn't take much effort given the indifferent nature of the visitors' display!) Hooper led the charge soon after coming on, and threaded a pass through for Old to exploit, only for Neville to intervene for Brisbane's benefit.
Wellington soon started building up a head of steam, and in the 67th minute Pennington and Old worked a one-two which featured a good advantage played by referee Danaskos - Old was taken out from behind as he played his return pass.
This allowed Pennington to race clear on the left, from where he delivered a cross which found its way to Clayton Lewis. His goalbound volley struck Sotirio, who was in the thick of the action for all the right reasons three minutes later. Pennington's ball over the top invited Tim Payne to stretch his legs, the fullback getting to the by-line before inviting Sotirio to let fly, an attempt which foundered on the figure of Brisbane captain Tom Aldred.
The pair clashed again two minutes later, with referee Danaskos awarding Wellington a free-kick as a result. Aldred moaned like crazy about the decision - anyone would have thought he was a graduate of the Ufuk Talay school of refereeing complaints!
One must have sympathy for any fourth official appointed to a match in which Wellington's coach is gracing one of the dug-outs. The stream of complaints about decisions and perceived crimes beggars belief, and this match was no exception.
I digress. Lewis stepped up to the mark, and from twenty-five yards unleashed a gem of a free-kick round the wall which beat Holmes all ends up, only to hit the post. The rebound ricocheted off Sotirio and went out of play … for a corner! Referee Danaskos must have thought Holmes intervened somewhere along the way, which wasn't the case.
That corner was to prove highly beneficial for Wellington, as they drew level as a result of it. Pennington's delivery to the far post found Scott Wootton soaring above all-comers to head the ball inside for Sotirio. He directed a goalbound header which Hooper made certain would find the net via a close-range glancing header - 1-1.
Wellington were still celebrating mentally when Brisbane restored their advantage three minutes later. Trewin picked out substitute Henry Hore, who worked a slick one-two with Daley - a terrific back-heeled return pass, executed while going to ground - before unleashing a fiercely struck drive. Sail parried it, but couldn't prevent Hore from hammering home the rebound - 2-1, and a grandstand finish on the cards.
The visitors pressed instantly, Hooper in the thick of things at the near post as Pennington delivered a corner into that vicinity twelve minutes from time. Two minutes later, Neville's anticipation allowed him to intercept a pass and set off on a storming sixty yard run downfield, at which point he entered nosebleed territory.
A pass to substitute Luke Ivanovic resulted, with Sail smothering his shot, then grabbing one from Olsen soon afterwards, after the midfielder had been the beneficiary of a fine one-two worked by O'Shea and Louis Zabala.
In between these efforts, Hooper and fellow substitute Louis Fenton worked a one-two on the right before bringing Ball into play. He turned and worked a one-two with Sotirio before executing a mis-timed shot which Holmes grabbed greedily.
Brisbane's goalkeeper foiled a Joshua Laws header following a stoppage time corner delivered by Pennington, as Wellington pressed hard for an equaliser, something they should have got with ninety seconds remaining.
Sutton's cross broke for Hooper, who, from the edge of the area, curled a shot past the stranded goalkeeper but just past the upright, an effort which confirmed Brisbane's return to home turf would be a victorious one over opponents whose form on the road - this result marked a fourth successive defeat on their travels - may well prove to be their downfall in their pursuit of a play-off place, unless it improves drastically.
Brisbane: Holmes; Zabala, Neville, Aldred, Trewin; Akbari (Ivanovic, 53), O'Shea, Daley (booked, 57) (Steinmann, 85), Olsen; Wada (Hore, 53), Lescano (booked, 25) (Brindell-South, 69)
Wellington: Sail; Payne (Fenton, 77), Wootton, Laws, Sutton; Ball (booked, 90), Rufer (booked, 36) (Pennington, 38), Lewis, Sandoval (Old, 57); Waine (Hooper, 57), Sotirio
Referee: Tim Danaskos
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