Brisbane Roar suffered a 2-0 defeat against league leaders, Auckland FC in Isuzu UTE A-League Round 24 action at Suncorp Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Roar enjoyed the lions share of possession in the opening half and forced Alex Paulsen into a flying fingertip save when Jay O’Shea tried his luck from the top of the box before the Auckland custodian again came up big from the resulting corner to deny a Lucas Herrington header at the near post.
With Keegan Jelacic suspended Jacob Brazete came into the starting eleven after some good performances off the bench in recent weeks and caused the visiting defence plenty of problems when he made a driving run into the penalty area leaving several defenders in his wake but was unable to direct his effort on goal either side of Paulsen in the 30th minute.
The visitors opened the scoring with their first shot on target in first half stoppage time when Nando Pijnaker fired home a powerful header at the near post after being picked out by a Louis Verstaete cross.
15 minutes into the second half Paulsen came up with another pair of big saves to deny Hosine Bility on the rebound after he failed to hold O’Shea’s initial free-kick before tipping a goal bound strike round the post five minutes later.
Hiroki Sakai rounded out the 2-0 scoreline in the 85th minute when he turned home a Logan Rogerson cutback from close range.
Sunday’s match saw club captain, Jay O’Shea play his 150th A-League game for the club becoming just the eighth player to do so for Roar, while Jack Hingert matched Matt Mckay’s record for 303 appearances for the club in all competitions.
Focus for Ruben Zadkovich’s side now turns to next Friday’s match up with Macarthur at Suncorp Stadium.
MATCH DETAILS
Isuzu UTE A-League Men 2024/25 – Round 24: Brisbane Roar v Auckland FC
Suncorp Stadium, Milton
Sunday, 30 March
Brisbane Roar – 0
Auckland FC – 2 (Nando PIJNAKER 45+3′, Hiroki SAKAI 85′)
