There was a lot of well deserved hype coming into this match. Two versus three in the Hyundai A League table. Brisbane is starting to find their form again after going through a real rough patch midseason, and Wellington has been one of the hotter teams in the league. I was excited because it was early enough that I could watch it live and not have to stay up all night.
The action took place in front of 13,009 in attendance at Westpac Stadium, and the Phoenix faithful were in fine voice. Unfortunately, they didn't have much to cheer about, at least in the first half. Still one of the first real chances of the match came to Wellington as Leo Bertos got free up the wing and dribbled toward the eighteen. However, he held on to the ball for far too long, cutting down his angle, and his shot ended up being rather easily saved in minute thirteen.
After that, most of the chances for the first half fell to the Roar. Wellington played a bit of a version of park the bus, letting Brisbane control and do their passing game in the back of the Wellington half, and attempting to choke off the space further up the pitch. This worked for 42 minutes. At that point, the Roar found Besart Berisha with a ball over the top, which he volleyed into the goal to give Brisbane the 0-1 lead. The goal was controversial though as replays showed Berisha was most likely offside.
So the Phoenix knew they needed to take a different tact coming out for the second half trailing by a goal. They got a plumb chance in the 49th minute as Paul Ifill broke free and got one on one with the Brisbane 'keeper. Theoklitos made a great play on the shot though, preserving the Roar lead. Ifill would have another such chance in the 73rd minute, only to be saved again.
Despite the fact that the Phoenix did much better in the second half, the Roar were able to put away the match late. Mitch Nichols checked into the match for Brisbane in the second half. He had been suspended for the Olyroos next match, and returned to his club. In the 80th minute he hit a strike from around the top of the area into the top of the net to make it 0-2, which would be the full time result.
Certainly the Phoenix had a right to feel hard done by tonight from the refs, but Brisbane deserved the points, The final ball was never quite good enough for the Phoenix, and despite their positive play in the second half, they failed to really carve out more than a couple quality chances.
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