A ten man Brisbane Roar opened their Bhausaheb Bandodkar Memorial Trophy campaign with a 5-1 win over Dempo SC at the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Saturday night.
The Roar picked up three points in their opening Group A encounter following a five goal second half that saw Thomas Waddingham bag a brace, while Walid Shour, Jay O’Shea and Jez Lofthouse were all target.
Neither sides goalkeeper was greatly troubled in a very wet first half whichs main talking point was a red card to Jack Hingert, who was dismissed after 28 minutes after picking up his second caution of the contest.
Roar made a trio of changes at the break and were almost immediately rewarded when substitutes Corey Brown and Thomas Waddingham combined for the latter to turn home a finish and open the scoring in the 47th minute.
Waddingham doubled his tally in the 59th minute when he got behind the defence down the right thanks to a quickly taken Keegan Jelacic throw in before driving into the area and sliding a finish past the keeper to complete his brace.
Four minutes later Shour made it three with a goal on debut when he met O’Shea’s free-kick and nodded home at the near post.
O’Shea, who’d also entered the fray at half time turned from provider to scorer in the 69th minute when he slammed a first time strike into the back of the net via the underside of the crossbar from the top of the box to make it four.
Lofthouse added a fifth when he pounced on a loose ball outside the area, skipped past his marker and fired an effort into the bottom corner.
The hosts pulled a goal in the 80th minute through a Mohamed Ali diving header which proved to be a consolation as Roar saw out the 5-1 win.
Focus for Roar now shifts to Tuesday’s second group game against Indian Super League outfit, FC Goa who defeated Sporting Club De Goa 4-0 in Saturday’s earlier match at PJN Stadium.
MATCH DETAILS
Bhausaheb Bandodkar Memorial Trophy: Dempo SC vs Brisbane Roar
Saturday, August 24
PJN Stadium, Fatorda
Dempo SC – 1 (Mohamed ALI 80′)
Brisbane Roar – 5 (Thomas WADDINGHAM 47′ 59′, Walid SHOUR 63′, Jay O’SHEA 69′, Jez LOFTHOUSE 75′)
BRFC Team: 4. Ben WARLAND, 6. Joe CALETTI, 8. Walid SHOUR (5. Marcus FERKRANUS 80′), 11. Jez LOFTHOUSE, 19. Jack HINGERT, 23. Keegan JELACIC (27. Ben HALLORAN 65′), 29. Matt ACTON, 30. Quinn MACNICOL (3. Corey BROWN 46′), 35. Louis ZABALA, 47. James DURRINGTON (26. Jay O’SHEA 46′), 49. Ivan OZZI (16. Thomas WADDINGHAM 46′)
Unused subs: 1. Macklin FREKE, 10. Florin BERENGUER, 12. Lucas HERRINGTON, 17. Harry VAN DER SAAG, 43. Adam ZIMARINO, 55. Joshua LAKKIS
