Melbourne Victory and Brisbane Roar have played what will be one of the matches of the season at Etihad Stadium. The match finished 3-3 after the Roar led by two goals before the 25-minute mark but the reigning champions fought their way back thanks to two brilliant goals from Carlos Hernandez.
Melbourne Victory: 3 Brisbane Roar: 3
Scorers:Melb - Carlos Hernandez 33', 70', Danny Allsopp 63' Bris - Danny Tiatto 22', Sergio van Dijk 24' (P), Henrique 36' Venue: Etihad Stadium Crowd: 18,603
The opening 20 minutes slightly favoured the Victory who were on the attack at will but could not break past a determined Roar defence.
But the context of the game changed two minutes later when Roar midfielder Matt McKay teed up Danny Tiatto who hit a scorcher of a shot past keeper Glen Moss to open up the scoring.
A minute later, it was all Brisbane as Brazilian import Henrique found space on his way to goal only to be felled by Matthew Kemp to win a penalty.
Sergio van Dijk stepped up to the spot and smashed his penalty shot straight past Moss to double the visitors' lead.
Less than ten minutes later, the Victory were back in the contest when Nicky Ward played the ball to Carlos Hernandez outside the area, producing the second cracking goal of the match.
The Costa Rican used his unique goal scoring instinct to power his shot past Liam Reddy, making the score 2-1.
And it was raining goals at Etihad Stadium when Henrique danced and picked his way around the Victory defence and placed his shot from outside the area past Moss and into the back of the net in the 36th minute.
For much of the second half, the Victory attempted to get themselves back into the match and it finally paid off in the 63rd minute when Hernandez swung a cross in from the right flank and Danyy Allsopp won a header in the area that bobbled up nicely and he was able to turn and hit a sweet volley from the edge of the six-yard box to take it to 3-2.
Seven minutes later, Victory substitute Ney Fabiano won a free-kick outside the area after a challenge from David Dodd.
Hernandez stepped up and equalised with a magnificent curling shot to Reddy's right, igniting the Etihad Stadium crowd.
Moss came to the rescue for the Victory in the 84th minute when van Dijk turned inside the area but saw his right-foot shot blocked and on the counter, the ball ended with Archie Thompson shooting after a through ball but Reddy was on hand to make a brilliant acrobatic save.
Neither side could edge in front in the final few minutes and the match finished in a 3-3 draw, which was probably a fair result.
