Brisbane Roar has claimed a remarkable late 2-1 win against Melbourne Victory to progress through to the semi finals of the A-League.
The final 10 minutes saw the Victory reduced to 10 men with Jason Geria sent off for two bookable offences before getting themselves ahead on the scoresheet through none other than Besart Berisha.
The lead was short lived with Matt McKay restoring parity instantly and Thomas Broich sealed the win in injury time, scoring a header to set up a clash with Western Sydney next week.
This outcome seemed so unlikely at the beginning of the game with Victory utterly dominating in the first half of the match. The opening 30 minutes saw Brisbane struggle to break into their own attacking half and hold possession for any extended period of time and the team did not register a single shot on goal for the entire half.
However, for all this possession, Victory only registered four shots on target and would be ultimately made to regret this lack of potency in front of goal.
Victory made to rue first half dominance
Kevin Muscat’s men were all over the Roar in the first half, perhaps surprisingly so considering they were the underdogs in this clash. Brisbane struggled to create any sort of chances in the opening 45 and rarely got to spend any time in their attacking half. Victory created attack after attack but simply could not convert that onto the scoreboard.
At half time the visitors led the shots on goal count 10 to o and while they started the second half in a similar manner, the Roar worked their way back into the contest. It took until the dying moments of the match for the goals to come and Brisbane was more accurate when it counted.
Roar don’t make the same mistake twice
Brisbane had the chance to avoid this match last week when they failed to get the result they needed against the Victory in round 27. The Roar made sure that they did not put themselves through the same misery and got the win which sees them continue in this finals campaign.
While history did not repeat itself in terms of the result, it most definitely repeated in the way in which the Roar won. Their most famous grand final win came in a similar way in the 2010-11 season. They were able to come from behind and score the goals they needed – the mark of a truly good team.
Valeri’s presence is so influential
The 80 or so minutes Valeri was on the pitch, Victory looked settled and confident. It has been repeated incessantly but the Victory are a different side with him in the line up and his influence was missed sorely this season. His partnership with Oliver Bozanic was excellent, despite being still being so new thanks to his time on the sidelines. The pair stifled the Brisbane midfield and ensured that the first half was played exclusively in the Victory’s attacking half. They were pressing and applying pressure to any and every Roar player who go the ball and to great effect.
Finals football has a place in this country
There has been discussion about the necessity of the finals series in the A-League and the effect it has on the worth and value of the Premier’s Plate and how we then judge who the best team of the season really was.
While the best team of the season is certainly whoever finishes on top of the table, there is still plenty of value in the finals series and matches like this prove that. More quality football, more dramatic storylines, more goals and cards and tears and triumphs can only be a good thing for football in this country.
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