Jesse Daley and Matti Steinmann supplied more goals from midfield as Brisbane Roar’s perfect pre-season rolled on in a 3-1 victory over a competitive BRFC Invitational XI on Saturday.
Daley’s first-half opener and a late sealer from Steinmann bookended Brisbane’s win and continued the encouraging trend of goals coming from a variety of sources.
Nikola Mileusnić grabbed the other for Warren Moon’s men, who are looking to tick all the boxes ahead of the Round 1 game against Melbourne City at AAMI Park on 19 November.
That meant there were significant minutes for the likes of impressive trio Jordan Holmes, Jay O’Shea and loan signing Anton Mlinarić.
Luke Ivanovic also made an impact off the bench and would have been on the scoresheet had his second-half strike against the crossbar been deemed to have crossed the line as it appeared to have done.
There was no doubting the validity of Daley’s astute 29th-minute opener, the Roar man stroking home a neat bottom-corner finish after the ball was worked from right to left.
Cyrus Dehmie nodded over from a flicked-on corner late in the half, while Holmes produced a sensational one-handed save after the restart to preserve the one-goal margin.
Instead, Mileusnić doubled the advantage with a left-footed strike when he was set free in the box by Rahmat Akbari just prior to the hour.
The dangerous winger twice went close to grabbing himself a second amid a series of fine stops from Invitational goalkeeper Nick O’Connell.
Jackson Courtney-Perkins pulled one back in the 80th minute from the penalty spot following a foul in the box.
That put the Invitational side within touching distance until Steinmann, a scorer in the FFA Cup and against Capalaba FC in September, controlled a pass in from the left and buried the ball into the bottom right corner.
Ivanovic’s disputed strike was all the action that remained in the Roar’s penultimate outing in pre-season, which wraps up with next Saturday’s game against the NPL All Stars at Perry Park.
Match Details
Pre-Season Friendly: Brisbane Roar vs BRFC Invitational XI
Underwood Park
Saturday, 6 November 2021
Brisbane Roar 3 (Daley 29′ Mileusnić 56′ Steinmann 86′)
BRFC Invitational XI 1 (Courtney-Perkins p.80′)
