Brisbane Roar has secured a point in their first Isuzu UTE A-League match of the season after a 0-0 draw with Macarthur FC on Saturday.
Returning to Suncorp Stadium for the first time since March 2022, the home side came out with a blistering pace, putting their opponents Macarthur to the test early on.
Debutant Carlo Armiento, who joined the club in the off-season from Perth Glory, made his mark early with his strike from range sailing over the crossbar.
The chances kept coming for Roar as a Jack Hingert header found the feet of Riku Danzaki whose volley was palmed away by Macarthur’s goalkeeper Filip Kuto.
Armiento then crossed the ball to Charlie Austin at the back post with the Englishmen playing the ball across goal for another Roar debutant Joe Knowles who narrowly missed getting a foot to it.
The young forward would combine again with the former Premier League striker, picking out Austin but the header went wide.
Having someone of Armiento’s calibre to put balls in for Austin was always on the cards for Head Coach Warren Moon.
“Carlo has great delivery and Charlie needs service, I think that’s the key for us,” he said. “Since he’s come in, we’ve got a threat from both sides, and we’ve got plenty of attacking options now.”
As the first half continued, Macarthur found their feet as Anthony Carter saw his shot sail over the crossbar – one of the visitors’ best chances of the match.
For the most part, the men in orange kept the Australia Cup champions at bay in attack.
“Other than two moments which were caused by ourselves, they didn’t open us up or create chances and I thought defensively we were strong,” Moon said.
“I felt everyone knew their roles defensively and we nullified the threat of [Ulises] Davila, [Daniel] Azarni and [Al Hassan] Toure, they were relatively quiet and that’s all credit to our defence structure,” he added.
The second half saw several chances as both sides looked to break the deadlock.
Roar’s best chance came at the 71st-minute mark when a free kick was whipped into the box with Austin getting a head on it, forcing a sharp save from Kuto.
The Roar now turns their attention to their Round 2 match against Melbourne City on Friday 14 October at Suncorp Stadium.
MATCH DETAILS
Brisbane Roar 0-0 Macarthur FC
Suncorp Stadium
