Brisbane Roar re-wrote the record books, breaking the longest undefeated streak in Australian sport with their 4-0 dismantling of Perth Glory in tonight’s Hyundai A-League fixture.
As usual Brisbane came out of the blocks quickly in front of 19,339 at Suncorp Stadium, pushing much of the early play well inside Perth’s half. Apart from an apparent handball inside the penalty area by Josh Mitchell in the fifth minute, the Glory’s back four were very solid shutting down dangermen Henrique and Besart Berisha before they could produce any magic.
Issey Nakajima-Farran was also proving a handful for Perth up the right, dancing and side-stepping around defenders to cut it back for teammates and even having a crack or two at goal himself.
But after a persistent assault which saw Brisbane with almost all of the possession, Glory began to show signs of fatigue, until they finally capitulated. In the 23rd minute a pin-point pass from Roar skipper Matt Smith was beautifully flicked on by Henrique for Thomas Broich. With Glory defenders caught ball-watching, in familiar fashion the German maestro passed it low to the right post for Berisha to slot into goal from close range.
Brisbane hit their stride after taking the lead, while Perth appeared deflated, realising their defensive approach wasn’t working as well as they might’ve hoped.
Perth’s efforts to play it out of defence a la Brisbane looked amateur in comparison, turning over possession within a couple of passes, which made it difficult for the the Glory to make a decisive push forward.
Ten minutes later the Roar had another goal. Set up by a Broich long ball just inside the halfway mark, Nakajima-Farran waltzed in between two defenders before a stylish lob over the Glory ‘keeper Danny Vukovic put Brisbane two in front.
The Canadian international then had his second in the 41st minute, working a nice one-two with Ivan Franjic down the right to convert a missile pass from the tight angle. Issey-peasy.
Then just before halftime, a ripping strike unleashed by fired up Albanian Besart Berisha was the final nail in the coffin for the visitors, ensuring Perth would take no glory in Brisbane tonight.
Changing their game plan after the break, Perth presented themselves with more chances in the second half. But at no point did they look to have the Roar trembling, while the home team looked content with their efforts after the first 45 minutes with the score unchanged by the fulltime whistle.
The Roar’s victory is their 23rd of the undefeated streak (13 draws) and their 6th win this season, keeping the defending champions atop the Hyundai A-League ladder.
Brisbane Roar:
THEOKLITOS, Michael. SMITH, Matt. STEFANUTTO, Shane. FRANJIC, Ivan. PAARTALU, Erik. BERISHA, Besart. MURDOCCA, Massimo. HENRIQUE. NAKAJIMA-FARRAN, Issey. BROICH, Thomas. ADNAN, Mohamed.
Subs:
MEYER, James. HINGERT, Jack. BRATTAN, Luke. ACTON, Matt.
Perth Glory:
VUKOVIC, Daniel. MITCHELL, Josh. VAN DER BRINK, Seb. MEHMET, Billy. BURNS, Jacob. HUGHES, Adam. SMELTZ, Shane. AMPHLETT, Tommy. HOWARTH, Todd. RISDON, Joshua. MCCLENAHAN, Trent.
Subs:
MCGARRY, Steven. MAKAROUNAS, Jesse. ANDREZINHO. ITALIANO, Lewis.
PLAYER OF THE MATCH
3 POINTS: Thomas Broich
2 POINTS: Issey Nakajima-Farran
1 POINT: Besart Berisha
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