Four-goal Roar continue Sydney’s pain

A brace from Alessandro Del Piero couldn’t turn around Sydney FC’s troubled week as the Sky Blues fell 4-2 to a rampant Brisbane Roar at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night.

Midfielders Thomas Broich, Erik Paartalu and Ben Halloran did the damage for Roar in the first half before Besart Berisha settled the contest in the host’s favour in the second.

Del Piero scored either side of the half-time  interval – his first goals from open play for the troubled club – but it did little more than restore a semblance of credibility to a scoreboard in a match Brisbane otherwise dominated.

The home side opened the scoring through Broich on the half hour when his freekick from 25 yards evaded the attentions of a congested penalty box and bouncing in at the far post.

The German also had a hand in Brisbane’s second three minutes later, floating a cross from the left which was met by a strong header by Paartalu on five yards; the imposing midfielder’s initial effort was instinctively parried by Ivan Necevski but Paartalu’s long reach enabled him to turn in the ensuing rebound.

Del Piero produced the first of his two goals for the evening on 43 minutes – nonchalantly belting a 20 yard strike low and left past the lunging Theo from a standing start.

Sydney’s hope of a comeback dematerialised just prior to the break when Halloran, who was lurking on the left following a corner, capitalised on a deflection to curl his right-footed shot in at the far post.

Stand-in Sydney FC manager Steve Corica made two substitutions at the break in an attempt to turn the tide and saw immediate results when Del Piero combined with young attacker Blake Powell for his second.

Del Piero, again taking it upon himself to engineer a resurgence for the visitors, played a textbook one-two with Powell, before subtly faking out Theo to calmly convert with a sublime finish from point blank range.

Not to be outshone on his home turf, Roar striker Berisha re-established his side’s two goal buffer with a solo effort of his own –  turning and skipping past three challenges in the 57th minute before slotting his shot firmly past Necevski.

Sydney FC almost clawed a goal back for a third time, but Ivan Franjic was alert to the danger – clearing Yairo Yau’s shot off the line in the 77th minute.

With the result secured Roar continued to attack Sydney’s goal, but Sydney’s blushes were spared as the home side wasted a host of opportunities in the final stages.

The result sees Brisbane return to the top six, albeit temporarily. Meanwhile, Sydney are one point off bottom spot.

Brisbane Roar FC – 4 (Broich 30’, Paartalu 33’, Halloran 45’, Berisha 57’)
Sydney FC – 2 (Del Piero 43’ & 49’)

Att: 22,970 @ Suncorp Stadium

Brisbane Roar: 1 Michael THEO (GK), 2 Matthew SMITH (c), 3 Shane STEFANUTTO, 5 Ivan FRANJIC, 6 Erik PAARTALU, 7 Besart BERISHA, 8 Massimo MURDOCCA, 10 HENRIQUE, 11 Ben HALLORAN, 19 Jack HINGERT, 22 Thomas BROICH (Subs: 4 Matthew JURMAN, 18 Luke BRATTAN, 20 Matthew ACTON (gk), 24 Nick FITZGERALD)

Sydney FC:
1 Ivan NECEVSKI, 2 Sebastian RYALL, 3 FABIO, 4 Pascal BOSSCHART, 7 Brett EMERTON, 9 Paul REID, 10 Alessandro DEL PIERO, 15 Terry MCFLYNN (c),  21 Yairo YAU, 22 Ali ABBAS, 23 Rhyan GRANT (Subs: 12 Blake POWELL, 16 Joel CHIANESE, 18 Trent MCCLENAHAN, 20 Vedran JANJETOVIC (gk))