A-League: Brisbane Roar slump to 5-1 loss to Sydney FC

It was a horror night for the Roar as they slumped to a heavy defeat against A-League champions Sydney FC.

Adam Le Fondre netted a hat-trick for Sydney FC. Picture: Getty Images

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Brisbane Roar’s A-League frailties have been brutally exposed by ruthless champions Sydney FC.

Hoping to build on the previous week’s 2-0 home win over Central Coast Mariners, Robbie Fowler’s Roar were instead spanked 5-1 by the sizzling Sky Blues at Jubilee Stadium on Saturday night.

Sydney’s English striker Adam Le Fondre took his season tally to 10 goals with a hat-trick, with the majestic Milos Ninkovic and substitute Trent Buhagiar also scoring for the winners.

Roar striker Roy O’Donovan scored a stoppage-time penalty but it was nothing more than the slightest of consolations as Brisbane slumped to their fourth defeat of the season and fell to 10th spot on the ladder.

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Adam Le Fondre netted a hat-trick for Sydney FC. Picture: Getty Images

“For 45 minutes we weren’t there … that 45 minutes shouldn’t be acceptable for any manager,” disappointed Roar coach Fowler said.

“If any player is laughing and joking in the dressing-room, they don’t deserve to be playing football because we’ve just been turned over by a very, very good Sydney team with very good players.

“It’s a real eye-opener for us. We know what we’ve got to do … it’s a real wake-up call for us.”

The game was over by half-time, with Sydney showing their table-topping qualities in scoring three goals in the opening 45 minutes.

Brisbane were embarrassingly clueless at times, with Sydney midfield pair Ninkovic and Alex Baumjohann running proceedings with ease.

Their combination with forward duo Le Fondre and Kosta Barbarouses tore the rudderless Roar to shreds.

Brisbane Roar’s Scott Neville shields the ball from Sydney FC’s Rhyan Grant. Picture: AAP

The rot started for Brisbane in just the seventh minute, when Sky Blues’ maestro Ninkovic picked out Barbarouses with a defence-splitting pass.

Former Roar star Barbarouses then delivered a low cross into Brisbane’s penalty area. Via a deflection off defender Macaulay Gillesphey, the ball wrong-footed Roar captain Tom Aldred and found its way to Le Fondre, who finished comfortably.

A similar move again brought Brisbane unstuck in the 25th minute.

This time it was the classy Baumjohann who found Barbarouses on the right.

Barbarouses again cut the ball into the Brisbane’s penalty area, where Ninkovic was waiting to double the hosts’ lead.

Sydney sealed the three points in the 42nd minute with their third of the night and it was again all too easy following further calamitous defending from Brisbane.

Brisbane Roar coach Robbie Fowler said his side’s first-half showing was ‘unnaceptable.’ Picture: AAP

Barbarouses was again found on the right, with the New Zealand international laying the ball into the path of the unmarked Le Fondre, who produced a sublime finish that was too good for hapless Roar goalkeeper Jamie Young.

Fowler responded at the start of the second half by replacing struggling pair Gillesphey and Brad Inman with Daniel Bowles and Isaack Powell as he reverted to a back three and two wing backs.

And while the Roar showed a little more fight for the majority of the second stanza, Sydney finished off the job with an 86th-minute goal to Buhagiar and the completion of Le Fondre’s hat-trick three minutes later.

O’Donovan’s late penalty, after a foul from youngster Ryan Teague on Brisbane midfielder Stefan Mauk, denied the Sky Blues a deserved clean sheet.

SYDNEY FC 5 (Adam Le Fondre 7m, 42m, 89m, Milos Ninkovic 25m, Trent Buhagiar 86m) bt BRISBANE ROAR 1 (Roy O’Donovan 90+5m pen) at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium. Referee: Alireza Faghani