Brisbane Roar have cruised to a 2-0 win over the Central Coast Mariners at Suncorp Stadium tonight. A first-half special from Thomas Broich was overshadowed by a superb Ivan Franjic thunderbolt in the second half to guide the Roar to a comfortable win which saw them go within three points of league leaders Adelaide United.
A-League Week 10 - midweekBrisbane Roar: 2 (Thomas Broich 21', Ivan Franjic 61') Central Coast Mariners: 0
Venue: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane Crowd: approx. 7,000 Referee: Chris Beath Yellow cards:BR - Michael Theoklitos 46', Thomas Broich 89' CCM - Patrick Zwaanswijk 2', Rostyn Griffiths 2', Pedj Bojic 31', John Hutchinson 65', Matt Simon 85'
Brisbane looked dangerous early, as they have in a lot of games this season, and came extremely close when skipper Matt McKay's shot just before the 20-minute mark got past Mariners keeper Mathew Ryan but denied by the upright.
GOAL The Roar's reward for a solid start came in the 21st minute when German midfielder Thomas Broich ducked and weaved his way around a couple of Mariners defenders before lifting a lovely ball over the head of Ryan and into the back of the net from a tight angle from outside the area to open the scoring in brilliant fashion.
The Mariners were on the back foot even further after the goal but were doing a good job of keeping out the Roar's advances with the home side looking likely to put another one on the scoresheet, however, it didn't come before the half-time whistle despite a late miss by Reinaldo after a Ryan error on the byline.
The question was if Brisbane could keep up their high-octane level of football after just a four-day break whilst the Mariners would have been feeling fresh after more than two weeks without a game but early in the second half, the home side showed no signs of letting up.
Ryan was again called on in the 52nd minute to block a shot from Reinaldo before the Roar somehow made a great escape down the other end when Mariners midfielder Michael McGlinchey cut a swathe through the Roar defence but his enticing ball across the face of goal was not put away by the strikers.
The visitors begun to look a lot more likely as they chased a leveller but their desire to equalise went against them when Roar defender Ivan Franjic produced a special moment when he hit a scorching shot with the outside of his boot which evaded everybody in the penalty area in the 61st minute. It was a scintillating way to notch up his first A-LeagueGOAL.
The spark went out of the game as the Roar enjoyed their two-goal advantage and in the end it was enough to see them edge three points closer to league leaders Adelaide United whilst the Mariners fell four points behind tonight's victors.
Starting Line-Ups
BR Michael Theoklitos (gk), Matthew Smith, Luke DeVere, Shane Stefanutto (Susak 88'), Ivan Franjic, Erik Paartalu, Kosta Barbarouses, Massimo Murdocca (Nichols 62'), Reinaldo (Solorzano 66'), Matt McKay, Thomas Broich
Subs - Andrew Redmayne (gk), Jean Carlos Solorzano (66'), Mitch Nichols (62'), Milan Susak (88')
CCM Mathew Ryan (gk), Daniel McBree, Joshua Rose, Pedj Bojic, Patrick Zwaanswijk (Doig 76'), John Hutchinson, Rostyn Griffiths (Amini 66'), Oliver Bozanic (Lewis 88'), Michael McGlinchey, Alex Wilkinson, Matt Simon
Subs - Paul Henderson (gk), Matthew Lewis (88'), Chris Doig (76'), Mustafa Amini (66')
