Roar Review – Round 24

Round 23- Victory at home

Despite starting the game somewhat slowly in the opening quarter hour, the visiting Victory struggled to create chances and once the Roar got into a flow there was only going to be one winner.

Brisbane’s attacking outlets again shone, particularly striker Jamie Maclaren and right midfielder Dimitri Petratos who had a hand in a lot of the Roars enterprising attacking play. That right hand side combination with Borrello on the wing and Hingert overlapping looms as a dangerous one again for the Roar

In addition to the form of the right side in recent weeks, the full-backs both played arguably their best games of the season. Hingert, whose really excelled at right back this season looked a constant threat on the right while also keeping Fahid Ben Khalfallah quiet, while on the left the normally shaky Corey Brown was solid defensively and made few mistakes.

The tasks don’t get any easier however, with City’s wingers possessing a real danger, with the likes of Harry Novillo, Nick Fitzgerald and Michael Zullo likely to be deployed out wide in attack for the hosts.

Round 24- City away

Round 24 sees Brisbane play their penultimate road game of the regular season as the round begins with Brisbane’s trip to Melbourne City.

In the two previous meetings this season Brisbane picked up four points out of six in games that were played at Suncorp Stadium, with City the first side to emerge from the river city with a point in round 7, before the Roar put on one of their better performances of the season to run out 3-1 winners in round 12.

This promises to be a different encounter for a whole host of reasons however with so much on the line, not least of which is down to Brisbane’s poor record in the Victorian capital.

In seven previous encounters between the two sides in Melbourne City have won five compared to Brisbane’s one, with City winning the last five games at AAMI Park dating back to 2012. Add in cross-town rivals Melbourne Victory and the Roar have won just 5 times in 23 trips to the Victorian capital, and just twice in twelve attempts at AAMI Park.

With the top four playing off against one another this weekend, it looms as a pivotal round in shaping the race for both the top two, and the Premiership itself.

NPL Queensland

Finally this week, the Roar youth side played out a 1-1 draw at home against SWQ Thunder on Sunday evening. After going a man down early on after Aaron Reardon was given a straight red card, midfielder Jesse Daley gave the hosts a 1-0 lead from the penalty spot after half an hour. Thunder’s Jackson Haussler equalised for the visitors midway through the second half and the home side withstood some late pressure to pick up a point.

Up next for the Roar is a trip to Goodwin Park against Olympic on Sunday evening.

Google+