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Brisbane Wins Battle Of Struggling Sides
by Jeremy Ruane
Brisbane Roar edged Wellington Phoenix 1-0 in an at times dour Isuzu Ute A-League spectacle on April 26, as two of the competition's struggling sides clashed on a treacherous Suncorp Stadium playing surface.
The first half was particularly uninspiring, with just five attempts on goal being mustered. Wellington produced the first of them, Costa Barbarouses' third minute raid down the left resulting in a low cross for Hideki Ishige, who couldn't direct his effort on target.
Brisbane's initial response, seven minutes later, saw Sam Klein lash a twenty-five yarder on the run past the diving figure of Josh Oluwayemi, only for the post to come to Wellington's rescue.
Jay O'Shea was responsible for the next two opportunities, both from free-kicks. His nineteenth minute fizzed narrowly past the post from twenty-five yards, while an attempt taken five yards closer and thirteen minutes later was turned away by the diving figure of Oluwayemi, who also grabbed a header from Klein in the shadows of the half-time whistle as the midfielder was picked out by another O'Shea free-kick.
The second spell was a bit more lively, with the first opportunity arising thanks to the playing conditions. Alex Rufer lost control of the ball in the mud, allowing Ben Halloran to swoop and set up Henry Hore for a shot which Oluwayemi to parry to safety in the 48th minute.
Ten minutes later, Brisbane deservedly broke the deadlock. O'Shea and Jack Hingert worked a one-two on the right before the home team's skipper played the ball into Asumah Abubakar. He laid the ball off into the stride of Florin Berenguer-Bohrer, who fair battered an emphatic volley from inside the 'D' into the bottom right-hand corner of the diving Oluwayemi's net.
Within four minutes, the Frenchman could have had a second, Oluwayemi blocking an opportunity created by the industry of Abubakar, seconds before Klein sliced a shot wide from the edge of the penalty area following good work by Hore on the left.
Wellington coach Giancarlo Italiano - whose contract was controversially extended for a further campaign during the week, despite the substandard displays he has overseen this season - introduced fresh legs from the bench, and Luke Brooke-Smith and Nathan Walker instantly gave the visitors the verve which had been non-existent up to this point
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in the contest.
The pair combined within a minute of coming on, Walker being denied by Matt Acton, who was called into action on his fiftieth appearance for Brisbane for the first time in 65 minutes - that is how long it took for Wellington to fire a shot on target in this encounter.
Within two minutes, Acton was in action again, parrying at his near post to deny Corban Piper, who was played in through the inside left channel by another perceptive Brooke-Smith pass, seconds after O'Shea had sent a shot flashing a yard over the bar at the other end of the ground.
Barbarouses curled a 69th minute shot inches over Acton's left-hand angle on receipt of a Paulo Retre pass, while Tim Payne's adventurous run down the right culminated in a driven shot across the face of goal soon after, as Wellington's search for a leveller increased in intensity.
Back came Brisbane, Abubakar seeing his low drive turned round the post by Oluwayemi twelve minutes from time. The resulting corner sparked a Wellington counter-attack, with Payne stinging the gloves of Acton with what proved to be the visitors' last shot of note.
A gathering of the clans apart - Sam Sutton went in a little over-vigorously on Abubakar, which prompted a fierce reaction from the offended player, and earned Sutton and Klein yellow cards from referee Ben Abraham - the remainder of the contest saw neither side able to truly threaten their respective targets, which suited Brisbane just fine, as this win will almost certainly see them avoid the wooden spoon.
For Wellington, however, the result guarantees a bottom-four finish, and means, like Brisbane and Perth Glory, they'll end the season with a trip to Darwin, where they face a qualifying play-off to take part in the 2025 FFA Cup, Australian football's equivalent of the FA Cup.
Brisbane: Acton (booked, 90); Hingert, Herrington, Bility, Burke-Gilroy; Klein (booked, 85), O'Shea; Halloran (Jelacic, 64), Berenguer-Bohrer (Zimarino, 82), Hore (Brazete, 64); Abubakar (Amanatidis, 86)
Wellington: Oluwayemi; Hughes, Wootton, Kelly-Heald (booked, 79 (Nagasawa, 80)); Payne, Piper, Rufer (booked, 60 (Retre, 64)), Sheridan (Brooke-Smith, 64), Sutton (booked, 85); Ishige (Walker, 64), Barbarouses
Referee: Ben Abraham
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