Brisbane Roar put bad week behind them with 2-1 win over Central Coast Mariners
BRISBANE Roar rebounded from their embarrassing AFC Champions League playoff defeat to beat Central Coast Mariners 2-1 in Gosford on Saturday night.
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BRISBANE Roar rebounded from their embarrassing AFC Champions League playoff defeat to beat Central Coast Mariners 2-1 in Gosford on Saturday night.
Pre-match Brisbane coach John Aloisi said his side owed their fans after last Tuesday’s humiliating 3- 2 home loss to Filipino club Ceres-Negros.
And while it wasn’t a pretty performance, the desperate Roar did enough to win for the fifth time this season and move into the A-League top six at least until Sunday night.
Former Socceroos pair Brett Holman and Matt McKay scored Brisbane’s goals, with the visitors taking a 2-0 lead in the 54th minute.
The Mariners pulled one back nine minutes later through Blake Powell, but they couldn’t find an equaliser in losing for the eighth time this season.
The Mariners finished the match with 10 men after Dutchman Wout Brama was sent off for a shocking foul on Roar substitute Corey Gameiro.
The Roar had the first chance of the game in the third minute after the returning Corey Brown burst down to the left before cutting the ball into the heart of the Mariners’ penalty area.
Veteran Italian striker Massimo Maccarone was first to it, but with the ball slightly behind him, could not wrap his foot around it sufficiently to get his shot on target.
Brisbane suffered a blow in the eighth minute when key midfielder Thomas Kristensen was forced off with what seemed to be a re-occurrence of the hamstring problems that have plagued him this season.
Powell had a great chance to give the Mariners the lead in the 21st minute but his shot was well blocked by Brown.
Having withstood pressure, the Roar went ahead two minutes later after an error from Mariners midfielder Jacob Melling.
Fed by goalkeeper Ben Kennedy, Melling lost possession under pressure from Roar skipper McKay.
The veteran midfielder fed teenager Daniel Leck, who in turn laid the ball into the path of Holman, who found the back of the net with a crisp strike.
The Roar doubled their lead in the 54th minute, again making the most of a Mariners mistake.
This time the error came from keeper Kennedy, whose poor pass was intercepted by McKay on the edge of Central Coast’s penalty area.
McKay made the most of Kennedy’s gaffe to score his first goal of the season.
The Mariners dragged themselves back into the contest in the 63rd minute via Powell, who stood up Roar fullback Jack Hingert before unleashing with an angled strike that beat Brisbane keeper Jamie Young.
Originally published as Brisbane Roar put bad week behind them with 2-1 win over Central Coast Mariners
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