Melbourne Victory ends Brisbane Roar’s winning streak, send coach Ange Postecoglou out with 1-0 win
Melbourne Victory sent Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou out in style with a 1-0 win over the Brisbane Roar at Docklands on Friday night.
In what was decidedly a game of two halves, Brisbane had all the running in the first period, pinning the Victory deep in their territory for long periods at a time.
Despite the momentum, the Roar could not find the back of the net leaving the game nil-all at the break.
The first ten minutes after the resumption continued in much the same way with Brisbane pressuring Melbourne but unable to land the killer blow.
The home team barely looked likely until Archie Thompson found James Troisi screaming down the left-hand side.
Despite close attention from his out-field defence, goal-keeper Michael Theo found himself in no man’s land on the edge of the six-yard box.
With little to no avenue to the goal, Troisi deftly fired his shot from an incredibly tight angle between Theo’s legs. The ball sneaking inside the far post.
That seemed to light a fire in the Victorians with former Brisbane Roar player Mitch Nicholls and then Thompson, frustrated by off-side calls all night, missed a chance to put his team ahead in the 64th minute.
Brisbane looked ineffective through the midfield after coach Mike Mulvey was forced to inject Dimitri Petratos barely five minutes into the second half, following an injury to Luke Brattan.
Liam Miller was the next to go down with Henrique replacing him.
The lack of midfielders was evident as Brisbane searched for an equaliser.
The team Postecoglou took to the 2012 A-League title struggled to get a sniff of the goal for the last half-hour of the game.
Postecoglou now begins his tenure as Socceroos coach completely with assistant and former Victory player Kevin Muscat the man widely tipped to step into the top job.