Ruthless Roar tears Central Coast to shreds
AAP Image: Dan Peled
The Brisbane Roar have sent a stern message to their A-League rivals by tearing a 10-man Central Coast to shreds with a ruthless 4-0 win at Lang Park.
Jade North, the in-form Jamie Maclaren, Corona and super-sub Henrique each found the back of the net as the title-hunting Roar handed the Mariners a harsh reality check in rainy conditions on Saturday afternoon.
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The Roar were untroubled by the competition’s bottom-placed side, who lost one of their few dangerous attacking outlets, winger Mitch Austin (back), in the pre-match warm-up and were on the back foot for almost the entire 90 minutes.
Brisbane controlled possession, Mariners given harsh reality check. Photo: AAP
The Mariners hardly looked like scoring – not even following the half-time injection of Spanish veteran Luis Garcia, who failed to provide the team with the same boost he did in his previous two appearances as a substitute.
Instead, the Roar controlled possession, played the game on their terms and easily could have scored more.
The win moves Brisbane back to the top of the A-League ladder, one point clear of second-placed Western Sydney, who play away to Melbourne Victory later on Saturday.
Brisbane took the lead 20 minutes in through an innocuous-looking Corona free-kick, which found defender James Donachie, who squared the ball across to his centre-back partner North.
Squeezing himself between Central Coast’s Jacob Poscoliero and Jake McGing, North managed to get a head on it and made it 1-0.
The lead was doubled in the 36th minute when Dimitri Petratos picked out Maclaren with a lovely curling cross.
Maclaren headed the ball down first, then fired his 10th goal of the season past helpless Mariners gloveman Paul Izzo.
Corona’s goal, just short of the hour mark, was the pick of the bunch – set up by Thomas Broich, the former La Liga stalwart’s first-time shot rocketed into the corner of the net for his first A-League goal to the delight of the 11,788 fans on hand.
Then Harry Ascroft earned his marching orders in the 71st minute for bringing down Maclaren in the box with a clumsy challenge, with Henrique converting the penalty that followed.
Ascroft, who had only just returned to the squad after serving a one-match suspension for yellow card accruals, will now miss Central Coast’s home clash with red-hot Adelaide United next weekend, while the Roar have a further chance to entrench themselves at the top of the table against Newcastle Jets at home on Friday night.