Brisbane Roar has continued its early pre-season form with a comprehensive 3-0 victory over Brisbane Premier League club Eastern Suburbs.
Goals from Kosta Barbarouses, trialist Nick Fitzgerald and captain Matt McKay secured the result for Ange Postecoglou-s men, who controlled the game for long periods despite a second-half resurgence from the BPL side.
Local hero James Meyer, a former Easts player, was lively in the match-s opening stages, combining well with Barbarouses and Thomas Broich at the pointy end of Brisbane-s attack.
In the 22nd minute, a quick one-two between Meyer and Broich almost reaped dividends for the Hyundai A-League Champions but the assistant referee deemed the striker offside.
A shot from Barbarouses bobbled just wide three minutes later after impressive build-up play from Broich before another link-up between the two saw the Kiwi striker-s chip sail just high of the Easts crossbar.
The Roar finally had a deserved lead three minutes from the break when Barbarouses collected the ball inside the area and delivered a well-placed shot past Easts custodian Tom Carroll to break the deadlock.
The second stanza saw a revived effort from the home side with their men up front testing Brisbane ‘keeper Michael Theoklitos with a long-range shot and a curling free-kick early.
However, the dominance of the Hyundai A-League side proved too much for Eastern Suburbs and two goals in seven minutes from Fitzgerald and McKay sealed the win for Brisbane.
