Kosta Barbarouses' second-half goal gave Brisbane Roar a narrow 1-0 win over his former club Wellington Phoenix tonight. The Roar were again impressive as they notched up their second win in three opening games and managed to inflict the first defeat on the high-flying Phoenix.
A-League Round 4Brisbane Roar: 1 (Kosta Barbarouses 73') Wellington Phoenix: 0
Venue: Suncorp Stadium Crowd: approx. 7,000 Referee: Chris Beath Yellow cards:BR - Matt McKay 71' WP Paul Ifill 11', Vince Lia 35', Tim Brown 45+2', Andrew Durante 54', Mirjan Pavlovic 75'
The intent of both sides was clear early on with a number of chances coming in the opening ten minutes but it soon settled down as the Roar took control of possession and started employing their now customary passing game.
Wellington slowly worked their way back into the contest and were extremely close to scoring just after the half-hour mark when Roar keeper Michael Theoklitos was forced into a reflex save after Dylan Macallister's header ricocheted off Chris Greenacre's head.
Both sides had to settle for a share of the score when referee Chris Beath blew his whistle despite a very frantic finish to the first half.
A lot of the sting from the opening 45 minutes withered away in the opening 15 minutes of the second term with the home side still enjoying more time on the ball and they got their reward after plenty of patience. GOAL Roar skipper Matt McKay received a pass from Kosta Barbarouses before he flicked it back into the path of the New Zealander and the former Phoenix man tucked it away under Mark Paston to give Brisbane the lead.
Moments later, the visitors almost grabbed an equaliser when Paul Ifill found space after a defensive error by the Roar but an advancing Theoklitos did enough to clear the ball to safety.
Barbarouses' goal breathed some life into proceedings as the Phoenix worked hard for a leveller but Theoklitos was proving a difficult pillar to move, producing plenty of top shelf saves and eventually keeping a clean sheet to help his side to a solid win.
Starting Line-Ups
BR Michael Theoklitos (gk), Milan Susak, Luke DeVere, Shane Stefanutto, Matt Smith, Matt McKay, Erik Paartalu, Henrique, Kosta Barbarouses (Murdocca 88'), Thomas Broich, Mitch Nichols (Reinaldo 63')
Subs - Andrew Redmayne (gk), Massimo Murdocca (88'), Reinaldo (63'), Matt Mundy
WP Mark Paston (gk), Manny Muscat, Ben Sigmund, Andrew Durante, Tony Lochhead, Tim Brown, Vince Lia, Chris Greenacre (Hearfield 80'), Leo Bertos, Paul Ifill, Dylan Macallister (Pavlovic 66')
Subs - Danny Vukovic (gk), Daniel, Troy Hearfield (80'), Mirjan Pavlovic (66')
