Brisbane Roar moves off the bottom of ladder with win over Perth

Roar midfielder Sam Klein has celebrated his 21st birthday in style with his first two goals in the A-League to give the Brisbane Roar a vital win in its battle to avoid this seasons wooden spoon.

Sam Klein scored his first two goals in the A-League for the Brisbane Roar on his 21st birthday. Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images

Brisbane Roar midfielder Sam Klein won’t forget his 21st birthday in a hurry after helping the Brisbane Roar to move off the bottom of the A-League ladder with a 3-1 win over Perth Glory.

The midfielder scored a brace, his first goals in the A-League, to help the Roar win and move past Perth on goal difference to 11th on the ladder.

What a strike! 😮‍💨 21-year-old Sam Klein scored a brace on his birthday and what a way to do it.

An unforgettable night for @brisbaneroar's rising star 🧡 pic.twitter.com/OdQZG4O3UT

— Isuzu UTE A-League (@aleaguemen) March 15, 2025

Early on, it was all Perth, who opened the scoring with a thunderbolt of a strike from English midfielder Luke Amos in the seventh minute.

Luke Amos of the Glory celebrates his goal against Brisbane. Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images

Perth should have doubled its lead almost 20 minutes later after Tass Mourdoukoutas missed a glorious chance in the 24th minute.

The Glory were made to pay with Asumah Abubakar levelling the scores for the Roar with eight minutes until the main break.

Scores would remain level at half time before Klein stole the show.

The midfielder pounced on a loose ball in the box, following a corner, in the 51st minute to power the ball into the net to give Brisbane the lead and score his first goal in the competition.

He would then make sure of the three points in the 89th minute, getting on to a ball from fellow Roar midfielder Jay O’Shea.

Klein then got into space, outside of the box, and took his chance, powering the ball past the Glory goalkeeper to score his second and secure the three points.

“To get my first goal and then my second goal, and on my birthday, it’s a special feeling,” he told Paramount Plus after the match.

“We want to finish the season strong and get off the bottom of the table.

“Nobody wants to lose here, we knew it would be tough coming to Perth.

“We fought well, they came out strong, (but we) battled through it and getting the winners at the end was a good feeling.”

Brisbane now move level with Perth on 11 points, but have a better for and against, which gets them off the bottom of the ladder.

The Roar have now won nine points from its past seven games after only getting two points from its first 12 matches.

Western Sydney moves to third on the ladder with win over Melbourne Victory

By Marco Monteverde

Melbourne Victory blew a two-goal lead as Western Sydney Wanderers stormed home on Saturday night to secure a fourth successive A-League win,

The Victory seemed on track for a win at CommBank Stadium when they led 2-0 after 41 minutes only to lose 4-2 after being overrun and out-enthused by the fast-finishing hosts, who prevailed thanks to goals from Bozhidar Kraev, Brandon Borrello, Nicolas Milanovic and Marcus Antonsson.

The win lifted the Wanderers into third place on the A-League ladder, while the Victory dropped to fifth after losing for the first time in five matches.

“That’s the spark we want, that’s the energy we want,” Bulgarian star Kraev told Network 10.

“We did a great, great job.”

However, it was the Victory who started the better, with Socceroos pair Nishan Velupillay and Daniel Arzani starring early.

Nikolaos Vergos sums up the feeling of Melbourne Victory after the final siren. The side lost 4-2 after leading by two goals. Photo by Mark Kolbe Photography/Getty Images

Velupillay scored the first goal of the game in the 34th minute after referee Alex King did well to play the advantage rather than stop play to award the visitors a free-kick for a foul on Reno Piscopo.

As Piscopo fell to the ground, he propelled the ball into the path of Velupillay, who cut inside on to his right foot before finding the back of the net with a curling strike that was too good for Wanderers goalkeeper Lawrence Thomas.

Piscopo doubled the Victory’s lead seven minutes later after some brilliant work from Arzani.

The 26-year-old playmaker got the better of Wanderers pair Jack Clisby and Kraev. before delivering a low cross to the far post, where an unmarked Piscopo netted from close range.

However, the Wanderers cut the Victory’s lead in half three minutes later when poor marking from midfielder Ryan Teague, who was named for the first time in a Socceroos squad on Friday, allowed Kraev to volley a corner from Jack Clisby past goalkeeper Mitch Langerak.

“My goal came at the perfect time at the end of the first-half,” Kraev said.

The Victory had a host of chances in the second half to regain a two-goal advantage, but last-gasp defending from the Wanderers denied Velupillay and Brendan Hamill, while Arzani hit the woodwork from an awkward angle.

Wanderers keeper Thomas also came to the rescue of his team with a fine save to deny substitute Zinedine Machach.

The Victory would later rue those missed opportunities, with Wanderers forward Borrello heading home a cross from substitute Alex Gersbach to level scores in the 76th minute.

Worse was to come for the Melbourne side, with substitute Milanovic giving the Wanderers the lead in the 87th minute and fellow replacement Antonsson applying the icing on the cake in stoppage-time with a fourth goal for Western Sydney.

Velupillay said his side “had to better”.

“We can’t let them into the game,” Velupillay said.

“The Wanderers are a good team and if you give them a bit of a chance they can build off that.

“It’s decisions from the whole team. We need to keep the ball better. That’s what we did in the first-half but our job is to do that for two halves.”

Loan deal stops Badolato from playing

Young Socceroos star Alex Badolato, who recently joined the Victory on loan from the Wanderers, was denied a return to CommBank Stadium due to agreement between the clubs that prevents him from playing against Western Sydney.

It’s an agreement that didn’t sit well with Victory coach Arhur Diles, who would have been keen to use the player of the tournament at the recent AFC Under-20 Asian Cup, which was won by Australia

“(The way) I look at it, if a player is no longer required by a particular club, I believe it shouldn’t matter but each to their own,” Diles said.

“Some of those agreements are inevitable. Some clubs like to do that. It’s happened in the past, and I’m sure it’ll happen again in the future.”

Season on the line for Adelaide after home horror show

By Val Migliaccio

Adelaide United coach Carl Veart was remarkably calm after Friday night’s error-laden goal fest cost his side all points at Coopers Stadium.

Veart said his men would take deserved time off during the FIFA international window before facing Melbourne Victory away on March 29 in a critical contest to determine whether the side plays finals or not.

Adelaide crashed 5-4 to Macarthur in a seesawing contest which saw the Bulls ditch a 2-0 lead inside the opening 10 minutes.

Bernardo Oliveira and Peter Makrillos of Macarthur FC celebrate the win. Photo by Mark Brake/Getty Images

“It is quite difficult to concede five goals at home,” Veart said.

“It’s not good enough, really, but the boys gave it everything; you couldn’t have asked for more.

“They conceded two early goals and they showed the response they did and created some really good opportunities; there could have been more (goals).

“Some of the mistakes we made, were not good, it’s hard to take that loss.”

Adelaide gifted the Bulls two early goals when the Reds made diabolical decisions when attempting to escape Macarthur’s high-pressing game.

Veart explained why United had insisted on playing the ball out of defence when it didn’t appear to be on.

“It was to play over their high press, and we did a bit of work on that,’’ Veart said.

“The players, they make those decisions, they make those mistakes and it’s something that comes with playing a brand a football we do and that is to play entertaining football.

“It was a slow start; it was just the errors (that cost us) they (Adelaide) showed great spirit, and they didn’t give up.

“There were moments when we got back into the game to make it four all.

“It was an opportunity for us to take a breather. we had good control we didn’t have to force and rush to get another goal and we left ourselves open.”

Mile high club

Macarthur coach Mile Sterjovksi declared the win gives his side a realistic chance of playing finals football.

Sterjovski praised his side’s fighting qualities.

“There’s always things we need to learn from these games but the goals we conceded … not very happy,” Sterjovski said.

“We must review (our game), we have to be much better defensively than we were.

“It was a great attacking performance, but we need to be much better defensively.”

Changes?

Veart threatened to make wholesale changes after Adelaide was embarrassed by cellar-dweller Brisbane Roar more than a week ago in a 1-1 draw at home.

Only one man was chopped from the starting 11 after the Reds boss said his side’s performance against Roar was “unacceptable.”

Ben Folami was the lone casualty from the first 11’s Roar disaster.

He was axed from the matchday squad.

Folami was replaced by ex Birkalla and Comets junior Austin Ayoubi on the right wing.

Ayoubi scored Adelaide’s opening goal.

Jordan Elsey missed the cut and was replaced by former skipper Isaias in the 18-man squad.