A dominant second-half performance was not enough for Brisbane Roar, who lost 1-0 to Perth Glory at Suncorp Stadium.
A dominant second-half performance was not enough for Brisbane Roar, who lost 1-0 to Perth Glory at Suncorp Stadium.
After Steven McGarry-s 45th minute curler opened the scoring, the Roar controlled the match and created numerous scoring opportunities but were unable to find the crucial goal to secure points from the match.
Brisbane goalkeeper Michael Theo kept his side in the game on the half hour mark, denying Glory striker Shane Smeltz what seemed sure to be the opener with a point-blank save.
Five minutes later, Roar midfielder Thomas Broich picked out Besart Berisha inside the area but the Albanian-s header was straight into the arms of Perth-s Danny Vukovic.
With possession ticking over into the Roar-s favour, the Glory then stunned the home side in the final minute of the first half when McGarry latched onto a flick on from Smeltz and unleashed a curling shot into Theo-s top corner from 35 yards out.
Brisbane-s transition from defence into attack was quicker in the second half and six minutes in, Henrique was desperately unlucky when he ran onto a through ball from Berisha and slammed his shot off the woodwork.
In the 57th minute, Berisha found himself one-on-one with Vukovic in another fast-paced counter attack but his cheeky shot couldn-t find a way past the Glory goalkeeper before Erik Paartalu headed agonisingly wide two minutes later.
New Roar Head Coach Mike Mulvey introduced Ben Halloran at the expense of Henrique soon after and the substitute almost made an immediate impact when the ball fell to him on the right wing and his shot was just off target.
Brisbane finished the match with just ten men on the field as substitute Jack Hingert limped off with knocked hipbone and the Glory defence held strong against the fresh legs of Halloran and Nick Fitzgerald to claim the win.
In the post-match press conference, Mulvey made clear what he thought would be the turning point for his team, who still sit ninth on the Hyundai A-League ladder after the result.
“The game is all about scoring goals,” he said.
“We had a couple of good chances in the first half and the good news is we are creating chances.
“We-re just a little bit low on confidence at the moment, we just need one of those chances to go in and once that happens, we-ve got players who will score goals on a regular basis.”
Brisbane Roar 0
Perth Glory 1 (Steven McGARRY 45-)
Friday, 21 December 2012
Kick-off: 8pm local time
Referee: Peter Green
Crowd: 11,352
Brisbane Roar: 1. Michael THEO (gk), 2. Matt SMITH (c), 3. Shane STEFANUTTO, 5. Ivan FRANJIC (19. Jack HINGERT 80-), 6. Erik PAARTALU, 7. Besart BERISHA, 8. Massimo MURDOCCA (24. Nick FITZGERALD 70-), 10. HENRIQUE (11. Ben HALLORAN 65-), 15. James DONACHIE, 17. Mitch NICHOLS, 22. Thomas BROICH
Substitutes not used: 20. Matt ACTON (gk)
Yellow cards: Erik PAARTALU 48-
Red cards: Nil
Perth Glory: 1. Daniel VUKOVIC (gk), 3. Sebastian VAN DEN BRINK, 7. Jacob BURNS (c), 8. Dean HEFFERNAN (17. Chris HAROLD 70-), 9. Shane SMELTZ (4. Billy MEHMET 81-), 10. Liam MILLER, 13. Travis DODD, 14. Steven McGARRY, 19. Joshua RISDON, 21. Scott JAMIESON, 23. Michael THWAITE
Substitutes not used: 12. Ryo NAGAI, 30. Lewis ITALIANO (gk)
Yellow cards: Josh RISDON 34-, Scott JAMIESON 75-, Steven McGARRY 80-
Red cards: Nil
