An early goal to Besart Berisha and two wonder strikes from Ivan Franjic & Kwame Yeboah have seen the Brisbane Roar defeat the Western Sydney Wanderers for the first time in 5 matches between the two clubs.
Matthew Spiranovic once again started in central defence for Western Sydney, with Captain Beauchamp left out of the match day squad despite having travelled to Brisbane. The Roar welcomed talismanic striker Berisha back after his injury issues and he had an immediate impact.
Before a minute had been played Berisha had made a mazy run through the heart of the Wanderers defence but fired wide. 4 minutes later he left Mateo Poljak, Nikolai Topor-Stanley and Spiranovic for dead as he tore through the middle of the park. Despite his first shot being blocked the ball fell kindly for the Albanian hit-man, and he turned the ball past Ante Covic to open the scoring.
Brisbane doubled their advantage in the 18th minute. Henrique tricked his way into the penalty box for Western Sydney, although he had the ball poked away the 'Slippery Fish' managed to scrap his way into knocking the ball into the path of Franjic. The trap attempt by Franjic was poor, but fortunately for him it bobbled into the air, he unleashed a volley from well outside the penalty area that evaded the diving Covic and nestled into the bottom corner.
On the half-hour Brendon Santalab benefited from a poor pass by Jade North that was intercepted by Mark Bridge who sent the ball into the path of Santalab. The first touch was poor but Roar keeper Michael Theo wasn't quick enough to stop Santalab from lofting the ball over Theo to bring the scores back to 2-1. Western Sydney's chances of winning the game took a big nosedive when Shinji Ono was replaced 5 minutes before half-time with a niggling injury, Labinot Haliti brought on for Ono and stayed in the central attacking midfield position.
Western Sydney were well on top in the second half but had little to show for it. On 67 minutes D'Apuzzo overlapped Mark Bridge then delivered a cross that Haliti looped onto the crossbar. It rebounded for Santalab who attempted an overhead kick but put it wide. The best chance of the half for Western Sydney came on the 80 minute mark. A corner from Mooy was cleared as far as Minniecon who hooked the ball back into the box. It rebounded off a sea of legs to Nikolai Topor-Stanley, his shot was blocked into the path of Haliti who fired first time, the ball would have rocketed past Theo if not for the intervention of a Brisbane defender who did just enough to stop it going through his legs.
Roar young gun Kwame Yeboah had been introduced into the game on the hour mark for the tiring Berisha, and he killed the game off in the 91st minute. He broke down the left wing, cut inside Topor-Stanley and with Jerome Polenz jogging backward not fast enough to make challenge, Yeboah fired a thunderbolt that was past Covic before he could react.
Despite the better performance after the two Roar goals it wasn't enough to draw level. Tony Popovic made some unusual tactical choices in this match. In the past when Ono has been replaced either Bridge or Mooy had stepped up into the central attacking midfield role, but this match saw Haliti take over ineffectively. When Dean Heffernan was introduced the Wanderers moved into an unprecedented 4-4-2 formation with Heffernan on the left wing. There will be calls for Shannon Cole to be replaced by Tahj Minniecon in the event Hersi is unfit yet again, and Cole, Heffernan or La Rocca may give D'Apuzzo a challenge for the starting left fullback role.
The Wanderers next match is against the Wellington Phoenix, at Westpac Stadium, Wellington, on the 1st of December.
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