Brisbane Roar beat Western United to keep momentum rolling

Brisbane Roar’s resurgence has rolled on, with Robbie Fowler’s side beating Western United 1-0 in Ballarat.

Brisbane Roar players celebrate a goal by Mirza Muratovic against Western United at Mars Stadium in Ballarat. Picture: Getty Images

Brisbane Roar’s resurgence has rolled on, with Robbie Fowler’s side beating Western United 1-0 at Ballarat’s Mars Stadium on Sunday.

Young striker Mirza Muratovic handed the visitors the lead in the 61st minute and an uninspiring United were unable to claw their way back into the game.

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“Today was I think a real solid, professional performance,” Fowler said. “I think we were good value for it – I don’t think anyone could have complained too much if it was three or four, if I’m being honest.

“We came to a tough place and you look at their home form of late – they’ve got 10 goals in their last four games – and to come here and keep them quiet and come away with the three points was a real solid, professional performance.”

The win gives sixth-placed Brisbane a four-point buffer on United, while they are now just two points behind Adelaide and Wellington.

United coach Mark Rudan opted to give a debut to Japanese signing Tomoki Imai on the right side of a back three, while Thiel Iradukunda earned his first A-League start in a defensive midfield role.

Scott Neville returned from suspension for the Roar and slotted into defence.

United spurned two early chances during a first half in which both sides looked off the boil.

Connor Pain blasted a close-range effort over the bar in the opening minute and 11 minutes later, Jerry Skotadis whipped in a clever free kick that Andrew Durante failed to put away at the back post.

Brisbane had a good chance after 33 minutes when Jay O’Shea found Dylan Wenzel- Halls at the far post, but the forward hit his shot straight at United goalkeeper Filip Kurto.

O’Shea then put a chance of his own high and wide in the 49th minute.

Brisbane brought the contest to life with just over half an hour left to play.

Brad Inman robbed Imai of the ball in defence, charged forward and slid the ball across for Muratovic to fire home, just nine minutes after the 20-year-old had entered the fray from the bench.

After taking the lead, Brisbane then controlled the game and rarely looked troubled.

Kurto denied Aiden O’Neill in the 85th minute, then Muratovic in the dying minutes, with the Roar left to settle for a valuable 1-0 win.

“It’s an awesome feeling. It doesn’t get better than that, especially away from home,” goalscorer Muratovic said.

“Ever since I’ve come in, we’ve had a bit of a streak – I’m not saying it’s me – but it’s been good.

“The vibe around training has been great. Everyone is really positive and it's a really good feeling at the moment.

“I just want to continue on that and hope to put ourselves positively into the finals.”

Rudan was a frustrated man after the match.

“They played a high line, we worked all week on making forward runs at the right time, who makes the forward runs – whether it be our 10s or our fullbacks who had the higher starting positions,” Rudan said.

“We reconfirmed that message to the boys at halftime yet we didn’t really see it.

“That’s what frustrated me the most is we didn’t execute what we spoke about during the week and what we worked on during the week as well.”

AAP