Brisbane Roar has maintained its unbeaten pre-season campaign, beating an Ipswich Invitational side 3-0 in front of an enthusiastic crowd of 3914 at North Ipswich Oval.
Goals from Thomas Broich, Mitch Nichols and Alister Quinn saw off the invitational side after Brisbane held the lion-s share of possession for the full 90 minutes.
The large crowd was treated to a show of top quality football from the visitors and raised plenty of funds for the Salvation Army Flood Appeal through their gold coin donation on entry.
The Hyundai A-League Champions attacked from the opening whistle and striker James Meyer almost had his first goal of the pre-season after latching on to a through ball from teammate Thomas Broich and unleashing a fierce shot towards goal after just a couple of minutes on the clock.
It didn-t take long for the Roar to break the deadlock with Broich finding the back of the net two minutes later – the classy German pouncing on a header from Roar-s debutant defender Matt Jurman to give his side a slim advantage in the game-s early stages.
Broich was proving to be a handful for the opposition-s back four and his link-up play with Meyer almost reaped another goal before a timely intervention in the six yard box from an Ipswich defender kept his team-s chances intact.
Brisbane midfielder Erik Paartalu, returning to the starting eleven for the first time since recovering from an ankle injury, went close twice before the break but failed to find the killer instinct in front of goal.
The Roar were two goals to the good ten minutes into the second half when Mitch Nichols cut inside an Ipswich defender and slotting calmly past goalkeeper Chris Morrall.
A flurry of second-half substitutes from Brisbane Roar Head Coach Ange Postecoglou saw an injection of youth into the line-up with triallist Tommy Cirjak and National Youth League regular Alister Quinn looking particularly lively.
Defender Quinn rounded out the score line with just seconds remaining on the clock, combining well with fellow substitute Luke Brattan and displaying impressive technique on the ball with the goal in clear sight.
