Roar less clownish in class reunion

An old boys reunion at Suncorp Stadium was won by Jade North’s Brisbane Roar, out-condescending Isaka Cernak’s Wellington Phoenix on Sunday.

Brisbane’s shiny new attacking ability wowed even the popular kids with its two goals.

Corey Gameiro, who nobody seemed to remember from the old days, was first to make an impression. The Fulham loanee was adjudged to have illegally pulled the arm of former Wellington man Jade North before he had nodded in a goalmouth scramble.

The punch was eventually spiked in the 33rd minute by Steven Lustica, adding enthusiasm to the awkward stand-off with the opener. The goal was reminiscent of Roar in its collar-upturned, slick-haired heyday as a Stefanutto overlap was met with a sweet left-foot finish by Lustica.

Lustica later wasted a two-on-one chance within minutes of the restart when his indecision robbed both him and Besart Berisha a shot on goal, but the Albanian wasn’t letting Wellington’s mistakes go unnoticed by the crowd.

Dani Sanchez was dirty with possession is own half, allowing Berisha to rifle past Glen Moss as the striker was set clean through on goal for his 12th of the season – enough to brag about.

Despite relaxing, Brisbane held their 2-0 lead and North also managed the personal win he wanted midway through the second half by making a goal-saving challenge on Stein Huysegems, while Isaka Cernak missed the opportunity to impress his old chums when he was withdrawn through injury during the opening period.

BRISBANE: Theo (gk), Hingert, Donachie, North, Stefanutto, Brattan, Murdocca, Halloran, Lustica, Broich, Berisha.
Bench: Acton (gk), Brown, Nichols, Nijland.

WELLINGTON: Moss (gk), Lia, Sigmund, Durante, Lochhead, Boyd, Muscat, Cernak, Fenton, Ifill, Gameiro.
Bench: Paston (gk), Bertos, Sanchez, Huysegems.

Crowd: 9,282