Melbourne City managed to claim all three points with a victory over Brisbane Roar at the Dolphin Stadium to give manager Patrick Kisnorbo a win in his first game in charge of the club.
The first-half saw the hosts enthrall a nearly packed crowd as they made headway into the opposing third on multiple occasions. The best chance came in the form of a fantastic opportunity for striker Dylan Wenzel-Halls, who went clear on goal and shuffled to take it on his right foot to force a save from the goalkeeper Tom Glover. Fans of the Roar would have been left wondering why he took time to take it on his right foot, when in truth it would have been easier to take the shot with the weaker foot as it would have been quicker and given him more options with the finish.
On a breezy and humid evening in the capital of Queensland, the break seemed to do a world of good for the Sky Blues as they emerged stronger and better organised in the second period.
Seven minutes into the second period of play, young midfielder Connor Metcalfe found Jamie Maclaren in the attacking third for a quick one-two, used his pace to get past a defender and beautifully placed the ball into the top corner of the net.
But things were going to get difficult for the visitors. Andrew Nabbout appeared to pull a hamstring around the hour mark and had to be replaced by 20-year-old Naoki Tsubaki who is on loan from Japanese club Yokohama F. Marinos.
A little more than 15 minutes later, Adrian Luna – who had previously been shown a yellow card – was booked for a second time and sent off for a soft tackle on midfielder Rahmat Akbari. The second yellow seemed slightly controversial as the Uruguyan was left visibly shocked to have been sent off for such a soft challenge.
At this point, visiting boss Kisnorbo made the obvious change to drop a player back to bolster the midfield and tactically counter the numerical disadvantage.
The Roar pushed forward desperately searching for an equaliser, and came closest through a horrifyingly comical error from opposing ‘keeper Glover who somehow found himself outside the box and ahead of three of his defenders. Unfortunately for Warren Moon’s men, Riku Danzaki was unable to thread it through between the defenders to score an equaliser.
With 90 minutes gone, the referee brought the game to a halt with all three points being clinched by the visitors. Melbourne City will face Adelaide United in an away game on Sunday, while Brisbane lock horns with Melbourne Victory at the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium on Saturday.
