Brisbane Roar show they’re back with 4-0 demolition of Adelaide

Brisbane Roar ended a frustrating run of four successive draws to serve notice they are back as a major threat.

Brisbane Roar’s Thomas Kristensen celebrates his second goal against Adelaide yesterday. Picture: Jono Searle.

Brisbane Roar ended a frustrating run of four successive draws to serve notice they are back as a major threat for the A-League title after a comprehensive 4-0 win over Adelaide United at Suncorp Stadium yesterday.

A two-minute goal flurry in the first half from defensive midfielder Thomas Kristensen, veteran Thomas Broich’s first goal of the season and a late Jamie ­Maclaren penalty gave the Roar their biggest win of the season and sees them climb into equal-third spot on 17 points with Melbourne Victory.

Maclaren’s goal was a special moment for the young striker and his family — he dedicated it to his grandmother, who passed away last week.

Brisbane’s win means the top four sides — Sydney FC (24 points), Melbourne City (18), Victory and Roar — have opened up a significant gap on the rest of the field with Perth Glory next best on 12 and Western Sydney rounding out the top six with 11.

Brisbane were at their clinical, attacking best yesterday, taking advantage of most of the chances that came their way.

Still, it was a strange game in that Adelaide dominated the corner count by a staggering 18 to four, but they just couldn’t find their way into the net.

Brisbane, who remain unbeaten at home in their past 21 games, are now well-placed to make some sort of run for the Premiers Plate. United, however, continue to struggle with just the one win for the season and are cemented at the bottom of the table with six points.

Still, the defending champions know what it is like to be in this position. They had one less point at this stage last season before going on a stunning run that saw them go all the way to the top of the table. Kristensen, the standout for man of the match, said the victory was important in the context of the other round-10 results.

“It was extremely important … if we got nothing today then the top three would have opened up a big break on us,” the Dane said. “It was a good team performance and we needed to show something after our last few games.

“We led in three of those games but gave away the lead, so it was good to go on with the job and score a few goals.”

Not renowned as a goalscorer, Kristensen has scored four goals this season and what makes that more remarkable is that he has had just seven shots.

Despite forcing nine corners in the opening 45 minutes and more than matching the home side, Adelaide found themselves 2-0 down at the break, thanks to Kristensen’s two-minute, two-goal flurry.

The opening 25 minutes or so was nothing to write home about in terms of the quality of the football, though the poor standard of the pitch, which looked a mess after a recent Coldplay concert, did nothing to help.

Both sides struggled to come to grips with the condition of the surface, although Kristensen and Tommy Oar seemed to make light of it several times. Oar set up both of Kristensen’s goals, the first on 28 minutes when his cross from the left was met by the former Danish international, who produced a glancing header that squeezed inside the right post.

They combined again two minutes later, this time Oar narrowly beat the offside trap before charging down the right side and cutting his pass back for his teammate, who struck a first-time shot, this time inside the left post.

Adelaide would have wondered how they found themselves in this position as they had looked good going forward and working into good attacking areas. They were not without their chances, notably when Henrique fired a first-time volley from a corner played in from the right, only to see his goalbound shot deflected by a defender.