Melbourne Victory 1-2 Brisbane Roar
By Kieran Yap (15/10/23).
Above: Grace Kuilamu scored on debut for Brisbane Roar. Photo: Brisbane Roar.
Brisbane Roar has started this season off with an impressive win on the road against Melbourne Victory. Goals to Grace Kuilamu and Jenna McCormick ensured a 2-1 result, with Ella O’Grady scoring a consolation goal for the home side.
Victory went into this game with high hopes. Although they were missing the likes of Elise Kellond-Knight and Emily Gielnik, they had senior internationals on every line, and the afternoon started promisingly. The home side created chance after chance in a strong first half. Rachel Lowe came closest with a shot that was miraculously saved by Jordan Silkwotitz for Brisbane.
New striker Kurea Okino looked dangerous, but could not get a goal on debut for the club. She came inches away with a header and marginally missed connecting with an Alana Murphy ball into the box.
The heavy rain started to arrive in the second half, and Victory’s afternoon got darker as Sharn Freier started to have a bigger impact on the left flank. Her run and cross set up Kuilamu for a vicious strike that gave Lydia Williams no chance. Her battle with Jessika Nash would be closely contested and pivotal for the rest of the afternoon.
Although the goal had come slightly against the run of play it was well deserved. The powerful, direct wing play was capped off emphatically, and it was beginning to feel like it just was not Victory’s day.
Those fears were confirmed minutes later when Mckenzie Weinert thought that she had scored the equaliser. The American was judged to be offside from a long pass, but play was allowed to continue until she had cut inside the defence, shot, and began to celebrate.
Weinert’s energy and pace was a feature of Victory’s game, and although this goal was controversially chalked off, she did enough to impress the packed stadium. She looks like a good signing.
As Victory pushed for an equaliser, Roar struck again. Once more it was Freier who created the opportunity. Her battle with Nash drew a free kick from the wing and Hollie Palmer’s whipped-in ball was headed home by McCormick. It was near perfect delivery from Palmer, swung in between the defenders and goalkeeper making any touch a potential goal. McCormick’s finish was powerful and well-directed. She met the ball at full pace and Williams was unable to stop it.
Victory were now two goals down, the clock became their enemy and their bench lacked experience. Ava Briedis and Sara D’Appolonia came on for Paige Zois and Rachel Lowe. Briedis’s footwork caused Brisbane some trouble, and she tried her luck with a free kick that whizzed above the bar.
When Victory broke the deadlock it was too late, but a sign of what might emerge this season. Ella O’Grady fired home from the edge of the penalty area after Weinert’s tenacity created an opening.
The Young Matilda is highly regarded among national team selectors and showed why with Victory’s best strike of the afternoon.
Roar’s win should not come as too much of a surprise. They have not lost to Melbourne Victory since December 2021. No matter where either side sits on the ladder, who is available or who is signed, this is a fixture that Brisbane seem unable to lose.
It was a fiercely fought contest at times, but although fouls were common, there was little malice in any of them. Only two bookings were handed out which is a testament to the players who slid about desperately in increasingly stormy conditions.
Interestingly Melbourne Victory had more of the ball with 55% of possession, but committed far more fouls, giving away 15 free kicks compared to Brisbane’s nine. When they attack, they do so in numbers with both Nash and Jamilla Rankin getting ahead of the midfield. It can lead to some urgent defending, and that will probably improve as this new-look team plays more football together.
Brisbane were both lucky and excellent. Garrath Mcpherson’s side took their chances and defended well in midfield, although on another day they could have easily conceded two or three.
The home fans should be buoyed by the contribution of O’Grady and the early assured performance of Murphy in the centre of the pitch. Brisbane Roar fans will be delighted that two new signings found the scoresheet and that Hollie Palmer looks to be set to continue last season’s form despite spending much of the off-season recovering from injury.
This was a fiercely fought, tactically enthralling battle between two sides who always deliver incident-filled games. Victory might sign Brisbane’s best players, but The Roar never let them take all the points.
Teams: MELBOURNE VICTORY (4-3-3): Williams, Nash, Checker, Morrison, Rankin, Zois (D’Appolonia 71’), Murphy (O’Grady 81’(, Lowe (Briedis 81’), Weinert, Goad, Okino. Unused Substitutes: Curtis, Templeman
Scorer: O’Grady 90+1’.
BRISBANE ROAR (4-3-3): Silkowitz, Blissett, McQueen, McCormick, Scarpelli, Stephenson (O’Donohue 78’), Palmer, Freier, Kuilamu (Kirkup 78’) Corbin, Holgerson (Thompson 67’). Unused Substitutes: Richards, Levin
Scorers: Kuilamu 49’, McCormick 70’.
Referee: Anna-Marie Keighley
Attendance: TBC.
Follow Impetus on social media – we’re @ImpetusFootball on Threads, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. DON’T MISS our brand new TikTok platform @ImpetusFootball too!
impetusfootball.org 