Brisbane Roar have extended their lead at the top of the Hyundai A-League ladder, beating nearest rivals Adelaide United in an emphatic 4-0 display at Suncorp Stadium.
The victory was made even more impressive given Brisbane were down to ten men for the final 35 minutes after Reinaldo received his marching orders in the 56th minute.
In their third game in a busy eight days that involved travel to both Sydney and Wellington, Brisbane showed no signs of fatigue in front of their biggest home crowd of the Hyundai A-League 2010/11 season.
The play was all Brisbane in the opening stages of the game, an early statistic showing the Roar had almost 80 per cent of possession.
Ange Postecoglou-s men did well to hold onto the ball against a fired up Adelaide United and were soon settling into their regular, attack-minded stride with midfielder Thomas Broich leading the way as usual.
Against the run of play, it was Adelaide who had the first real opportunity of the game in the 15th minute starting when captain Lucas Pantelis put in a low, deceptive cross into the box.
It forced a quick palm away from Roar ‘keeper Michael Theoklitos, but when the ball fell to Iain Ramsey on the edge of the area, the Adelaide midfielder failed to hit the target.
United had another chance to find the opening goal when another Pantelis cross found Fabian Barbiero unmarked with the goal in sight but Theoklitos- goal remained unbreached.
Matt McKay registered Brisbane-s first significant attempt on goal, taking a chance from long-range when space opened up for him in the midfield but Adelaide custodian Eugene Galekovic was equal to the Brisbane captain-s challenge.
McKay was dominating the middle of the park and had another two chances to find Brisbane-s opener, the first shot sailing high of the cross bar and the second, a left-footed strike inside the box destined for the back of the net if it wasn-t for a diving save from the Adelaide No.1.
Despite the skipper-s tireless efforts in front of goal, it was big striker Reinaldo who finally capitalised Brisbane-s dominant share of possession.
Displaying his strength on the ball with some impressive hold-up play, Reinaldo angled his shot perfectly into the far corner to give Brisbane a well-deserved advantage heading into the break.
Seven minutes into the second half, Brisbane-s chances of holding onto their lead looked to take a turn for the worse when goal scorer Reinaldo received his second yellow card and was sent for an early shower by referee Matthew Breeze.
Faced with more than half an hour down to ten men, Brisbane did not let the send-off affect their play.
In fact, the referee-s decision sparked a flurry of attack from the Roar players and they extended their lead just two minutes later.
Holding midfielder Erik Paartalu did well to keep the ball in action and his quick cross found Matt Smith unmarked in the area, the centre back making no mistakes and thrashing the ball past Galekovic for his first ever Hyundai A-League goal.
The Brisbane players were only just beginning to find their stride and soon Kosta Barbarouses found himself in the thick of the action scoring two goals in four minutes to bring his season goal tally to five.
Latching onto a delicate through ball from substitute Mitch Nichols, Barbarouses found the bottom corner with ease before he unleashed a powerful thunderbolt from 25 metres to give Brisbane a deserved buffer heading into the final minutes of the game.
Substitutes Jean Carlos Solorzano and Rocky Visconte both went close for Brisbane-s fifth, while Theoklitos did his part at the other end with a wonderful, reactive save from an Adelaide free kick, but the score remained unchanged and Brisbane finished the game 4-0 winners.
Brisbane Roar coach Ange Postecoglou said he couldn-t fault the effort of his players after going down to ten men.
“It was a fantastic response, we-ve said all along that we want to be a positive side and that we never want to take a backward step to anyone,” he said.
“It was almost as though we had lifted another gear, at the end of the week that we-ve had, down to ten men and I thought we were untouchable for about 10 or 15 minutes.
“It was a fantastic response and I guess it just goes to show that with the good football and everything else we do, there is some real character and determination in this squad.”
Goal hero Barbarouses, whose two-goal haul saw him become joint top scorer in the Hyundai A-League alongside Sergio van Dijk and Robbie Kruse, attributed the dominant performance to the ‘never say die- attitude of the squad.
“I think it just shows our team character and spirit,” he said.
“I don-t think anyone would have guessed that we would have come out and score another three goals with a man down but that-s the sort of spirit we-ve got.
“It showed tonight and hopefully we can keep it going.”
Brisbane Roar 4 (REINALDO 43-, Matt SMITH 55-, Kosta BARBAROUSES 62-, 66-)
Adelaide United 0
Saturday, 6 November 2010
Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Referee: Matthew Breeze
Crowd: 13,248
Brisbane Roar line-up: 1. Michael THEOKLITOS (gk), 2. Matt SMITH, 3. Luke DEVERE, 6. Erik PAARTALU, 7. Kosta BARBAROUSES (9. Jean Carlos SOLORZANO 68-), 8. Massimo MURDOCCA (17. Mitchell NICHOLS 58-), 11. REINALDO, 12. Matthew MUNDY, 15. Matt McKAY (c), 22. Thomas BROICH (14. Rocky VISCONTE 79-), 23. Milan SUSAK
Substitutes Not Used: 20. Andrew REDMAYNE (gk)
Yellow Cards: REINALDO 44-, 54-
Red Cards: REINALDO 54-
Adelaide United line-up: 1. Eugene GALEKOVIC (gk), 2. Robert CORNTHWAITE (24. Cameron WATSON 64-), 4. Iain FYFE, 6. CASSIO, 7. Lucas PANTELIS (c), 8. Adam HUGHES, 9. Sergio VAN DIJK, 12. Paul REID, 17. Iain RAMSAY (16. Inseob SHIN 73-), 18. Fabian BARBIERO (13. Travis DODD 60-), 26. Joseph KEENAN
Substitutes Not Used: 20. Mark BIRIGHITTI (gk),
Yellow Cards: Robert CORNTHWAITE 54-
Red Cards: Nil
