Brisbane Roar registered a comfortable victory over Adelaide United at the Dolphin Stadium, making it a third consecutive victory early on in the 2020-21 A-League season.
The home side came into this game having recovered from a season opening defeat to Melbourne City followed by wins against Melbourne Victory and Newcastle Jets.
Meanwhile, Carl Veart’s men were coming into this fixture after having registered a solid 1-0 win over Victory at home, looking to build a run of form in their quest to move up in the league.
Both sides predominantly cancelled each other out while Brisbane looked the likelier ones to score, and promptly took the lead to make it 1-0 after 36 minutes. Young midfielder Riku Danzaki played an excellent ball through two yellow shirts to release Jack Hingert down the right flank. The 30-year-old sent in a cross that saw Wenzel-Halls put in a well positioned header to flick the ball from the near post and into the back of the net.
With only a few minutes to go in the first period of play, Adelaide goalkeeper James Delianov did well to make a diving save and deny a header for striker Scott McDonald.
However, minutes later there was nothing that Delianov could do as McDonald set up midfielder Jay O’Shea outside the box, with the Irishman promptly sending the ball into the top corner with an exceptional long range effort.
Things were going to get a lot worse for the visitors after 77 minutes, when Wenzel-Halls danced into the attacking third and got himself into a bit of space. The 23-year-old forward took a shot from outside the box that was heading straight at Delianov. But the goalkeeper misjudged the pace on the shot, causing him to produce a howler that saw the ball roll into the back of the net.
Adelaide pulled one back through a long range strike from midfielder Nathan Konstandopoulos, who sent a well hit shot towards goal from about 30-yards out. The effort seemed to catch goalkeeper Macklin Freke off guard as the ball got past him and into the back of the net quicker than he could react.
Despite pulling one back, the goal only proved to be a consolation as the home side registered their first A-League victory at Redcliffe this season when the man in charge brough the game to a halt.
Brisbane will play host to Melbourne Victory next Saturday, while will look to regroup and take on Perth Glory at Hindmarsh Stadium on Friday.
