A last minute goal to Matt McKay has secured a valuable point for Brisbane Roar in an epic clash with Melbourne Victory at AAMI Park.
The final score of 3-3 matched the classic encounter between the two sides played out in the Victorian capital last season and will be a much talked about match for some time to come.
While there may be some discussion surrounding Brisbane-s final goal of the match, the Queensland side-s determination play until the final seconds of every match paid dividends in the end and pushes the club-s unbeaten run to 15 matches.
Carlos Hernandez had the first opportunity of the match, unleashing a shot from distance which went well wide of the goal with just four minutes on the clock.
Five minutes later Melbourne-s other Costa Rican Marvin Angulo went much closer when he latched on to a Robbie Kruse flick on, but his shot was dragged just wide of the mark.
Brisbane gradually worked their way into the contest, looking to utilise the wide areas to get in behind the Melbourne defence.
Archie Thompson and Hernandez both had opportunities in the opening 15 minutes and while their efforts were on target, both were comfortable for Michael Theoklitos in goal.
Some sustained Brisbane pressure eventually came and with a series of corners the away side managed to push Victory deep into their defensive third of the park.
Brisbane continued to tighten the pressure on Melbourne and they were rewarded on 30 minutes with a goal which got its final touch from returning Melbourne defender Matthew Kemp.
Thomas Broich and Matt Smith worked the ball around the box before the German whipped in a wicked cross and under pressure from Jean Carlos Solorzano. Kemp could only put the ball into his own net.
On the stroke of half time Brisbane had a deserved second goal when Solorzano again proved he was the master poacher in the penalty area.
Roar-s ninth corner of the half was delivered deep into the box and was well met by Matt Smith-s head, but his effort was well saved onto the bar by Michael Petkovic in the Melbourne goal.
However, the loose ball fell to Brisbane-s Costa Rican and he took the opportunity to send himself to the top of the goal scoring charts, tapping the ball into the net for his eighth of the season.
As they did in the first half, Melbourne started the second half strongly, looking to get a goal to halve the deficit but the Brisbane defence held firm in the opening minutes of the second stanza.
The best chance fell to Hernandez 15 minutes into the half when a good passing movement fell to the midfielder 25m out from goal, but he again dragged his shot well wide of the mark.
Melbourne did find a goal on 63 minutes and again it was Brisbane old boy Robbie Kruse who finished it with a lovely curling effort from the edge of the box.
Brisbane almost hit back immediately through Mitch Nichols but his shot was brilliantly saved by Petkovic in the Victory goal.
Melbourne drew level on 70 minutes when a whipped in cross was nodded on by Kruse, for Thompson to prove he was also alert with a header to beat Theoklitos from the edge of the six yard box.
Brisbane had to dig deep to contain a rampaging Melbourne Victory outfit as they pushed bodies forward looking to take the lead for the first time in the match.
The match opened up with both sides showing they were not keen to settle for just one point with plenty of action in both penalty areas.
Melbourne did take the lead on 77 minutes when Theoklitos couldn-t hold a Hernandez thunderbolt free kick and Kruse popped up to stick the ball into the net.
Brisbane was almost back on level terms when Ivan Franjic played a great ball across the face of goal, but Reinaldo was unable to get a touch on the ball with a great sight on target.
The away side struggled to break down the Victory side for the remainder of the half and it took until the last minute for Roar to find the space to grab the equaliser.
Theoklitos gathered a long ball – with replays suggesting he may have been out of his box – launching it forward for Reinaldo to flick on with his head for McKay to run on to.
His first effort on goal was well saved by Petkovic, but the rebound off Rodrigo Vargas fell nicely to the Brisbane captain who slotted into an empty net to give his side a share of the points.
Brisbane coach Ange Postecoglou again paid homage to his team-s ability to dig deep and find a goal to give them a result.
“It was a funny old game, we controlled the game really well in the first half,” Postecoglou said.
“I thought we played at a good tempo and really putting some pressure on them.
“Second half, they-re a good side and obviously at home with the crowd behind them they got a sniff and really took the game to us.
“We were reeling for a while there, but again to the boy-s credit we managed to get a draw out of it.”
Melbourne Victory (Robbie KRUSE 63-, 77-, Archie THOMPSON 70-)
Brisbane Roar (Matthew KEMP (OG 30-), Jean Carlos SOLORZANO 45-, Matt McKAY 90-+3)
Friday, 3 December 2010
AAMI Park, Melbourne
Referee: Peter Green
Melbourne Victory FC: 1.Michael PETKOVIC (gk), 2. Kevin MUSCAT (c), 6. Leigh BROXHAM (5. Surat SUKHA 46-), 7. Matthew KEMP, 8.Grant BREBNER (13. Diogo FERREIRA 80-), 10. Archie THOMPSON, 11.Marvin ANGULO, 12.Rodrigo VARGAS, 14. Billy CELESKI, 16.Carlos HERNANDEZ, 21. Robbie KRUSE (3. Mate DUGANDZIC 82-)
Substitutes not used: 20.Sebastian MATTEI (gk),
Yellow cards: Kevin MUSCAT (55-), Rodrigo VARGAS (74-), Carlos HERNANDEZ (81-)
Red cards: Nil
Brisbane Roar FC: 1. Michael THEOKLITOS (gk), 2. Matt SMITH, 3. Luke DEVERE, 5. Ivan FRANJIC, 6. Erik PAARTALU, 7. Kosta BARBAROUSES, 9. Jean Carlos SOLORZANO (11. REINALDO 74-), 15 Matt McKAY (c) 17. Mitch NICHOLS (18. Luke BRATTAN 71-), 22. Thomas BROICH, 23. Milan SUSAK (12. Matt MUNDY 63-)
Substitutes not used: 20. Andrew REDMAYNE (gk)
Yellow cards: Nil
Red cards: Nil
