Melbourne Victory denied Brisbane Roar the Premier’s Plate with a hard-fought 0-0 draw at AAMI Park.
Brisbane should have taken the lead inside the opening minutes, but Matt McKay somehow failed to put the ball into the net from a metre out.
The Victory, fielding a rotated eleven after their midweek trip to Korea, found themselves pinned back in their own half for much of the contest. Counter-attacks were their main attacking outlet, but the likes of George Howard and Fahid Ben Khalfallah failed to stay onside during several promising breaks.
The Roar were limited to a series of half-chances, but once again spurned a clear chance to hit the front on the hour mark. Jamie Maclaren finally found himself with open space to run in and charged towards goal, but Lawrence Thomas stood his ground before making a fine save low to his left.
Thomas continued to be a thorn in Brisbane’s side, denying traditional super-sub Henrique from a fine angle as the visitors piled forward in search of a premiership-wnning breakthrough. A touch from defender Giancarlo Galifuocco seemed destined for the net in stoppage time, but the keeper produced a massive save to palm the ball away.
OFFICIAL MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
The result allowed Adelaide United to remain in first place and secure their first Premier’s Plate since 2006, while the Roar face the prospect of finishing the weekend in third if Western Sydney win their match against Wellington Phoenix.
Roar let Premiership slip through their fingers
John Aloisi’s side have not enjoyed playing away from Suncorp Stadium this season, winning only three of their 12 matches on the road this season before today. However, with a third premiership in the offing against a Victory side heavily depleted due to a midweek trip to Korea, the time was ripe to notch up that fourth away win.
The Roar could not rouse themselves to find the breakthrough though, coming up against stern resistance from the victory defence. Tommy Oar showed flashes of promise, but Jamie Maclaren, Thomas Broich and Dimitri Petratos fired blanks at crucial moments.
Thomas the man of the moment
Having only returned to the starting lineup ahead of Danny Vukovic a few weeks ago, Lawrence Thomas firmly established himself as high-quality shot-stopper and Adelaide United favourite with titanic performance in between the sticks. Following on from his impressive display in Korea against Suwon Bluewings, the goalkeeper produced a man of the match performance, denying the Roar two clear goalscoring opportunities and showing great strength in the air as a flurry of crosses entered the box in the final minutes. Danny Vukovic will have a hard time returning to the starting side at this rate.
Title defence still on for Victory
It may have been a mismatch in terms of statisitics – two shots for the Victory and 16 for the Roar – but given the quality of players missing this was a remarkable performance from Kevin Muscat’s side. Today’s effort truly illustrated the strength in depth of the squad, and the return of Carl Valeri adds extra composure to the midfield alongside the in-form Oliver Bozanic. The Victory may have finished the regular season in sixth place, but the players available and mentality within the squad mean that back-to-back grand final wins is not out of the question.
Outside90 Player of the Year votes
3 – Lawrence Thomas – Melbourne Victory
2 – Giancarlo Galifuocco – Melbourne Victory
1 – Jason Geria – Melbourne Victory
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