Brisbane Roar have suffered their first loss of the Isuzu UTE A-League Men season after a last minute 2-1 defeat at the hands of Wellington Phoenix at Sky Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
In what was a windy afternoon in the New Zealand capital, an extremely tight and hard fought first half yielded just two chances for Michael Valkanis’ men which saw midfielder Sam Klein hit the crossbar with a header 10 minutes into the contest, and ultimately the first goal of the match via Justin Vidic.
The forward’s first of the season came via an expert long ball from defender James McGarry whose pass left Vidic one on one with Phoenix goalkeeper Josh Oluwayemi. From here a composed lofted finish in the 42nd minute sent the Roar to the break in front much to the dismay of the home Wellington fans.
The second half continued on in much the same way as the first, where both sides battled hard in the windy conditions however, it was the Roar who had a golden chance fall their way just four minutes into the second half although attacker Giorgios Vrakas was able to make it count.
As the match crawled towards the back end, a surge from the home side resulted in a close range equaliser to Kazuki Nagasawa which sent the Phoenix fans into raptures as they continued to push for a decisive winner.
Unfortunately for the Roar, that winner came in the 97th minute of play when Carlo Armiento fired a low strike across the box and into the back of the net with what was essentially the last kick of the match.
A disappointed yet determined Roar now travel back to Brisbane where they will face reigning Champions, Melbourne City FC on Friday, 31 October at Suncorp Stadium with kick off scheduled for 6:35pm AEST. Tickets for the match are available HERE.
