Brisbane Roar 2-0 Melbourne City
by Ben Carey at Perry Park (2/3/24).
Above: Brisbane Roar celebrate during their excellent win over Melbourne City today. Photo: Brisbane Roar.
Brisbane Roar stunned Melbourne City on Saturday evening, exacting revenge for the painful 5-3 defeat they suffered to City the last time the two sides met in December.
It was a warm evening in the Sunshine State and there were once again over 2,000 people in the stands and on the grass behind the goals. The atmosphere at Perry Park was incredible.
Despite the warm weather, both sides started the match with a lot of intensity. Both Brisbane Roar and Melbourne City had good goal-scoring opportunities, but the hosts definitely had the majority of them. In the 10th minute, a fantastic run from Tameka Yallop caused chaos in the City box and put their new goalkeeper, Brazilian legend Bárbara, to the test early on. As she was forced to parrying away a number of attempts on her goal.
About 10 minutes before halftime, City turned over the ball in the midfield, which wouldn’t usually be too threatening, except that on this occasion, Jordan Silkowitz had come very far out of her goal and was forced to scramble back to safety. In a footrace with her was the very quick and talented Emina Ekić, who barrelled down the right flank and launched a very well-placed shot. Silkowitz was beaten but the ball kissed the crossbar and the follow-up was put wide, much to the joy of the home crowd.
Both sides kept up the intensity in the second half, but once again it was Brisbane with the better of the chances. Just before the hour mark, an excellent challenge in the midfield from Sharn Freier turned the ball over for Alicia Woods who hit a perfectly weighted pass for Yallop, who had timed her run well and received the ball, breaking through the high vistors defensive line.
The Australian international sprinted down the field, outrunning her nearest defender, and tucked it past the onrushing Bárbara to give Brisbane Roar a massive advantage in the match. The crowd went absolutely wild. The hometown hero, Yallop, once again proving why she’s been an integral part of the Matildas setup for so many years.
Not even two minutes later another excellent ball from Woods found the feet of Freier, who had enough open field to park a 747 in. She used her pace to leave her defender in the dust and pulled out a fantastic finish to bury the ball in the side netting. Once again, the 2000+ home fans in attendance roared in celebration.
The Roar were able to weather the City storm for the last half hour of the match, but it didn’t come easily. They had to fend of many waves of attacks from City, dodging another bullet in the form of a Bryleeh Henry shot that hit the crossbar. But the Roar were good enough to close the match out, preserving their clean sheet for only the third time this season.
Brisbane Roar were fantastic today. It was an excellent team performance that Alex Smith will be very happy with. Smith and his team solved a lot of problems today: first, scoring goals, second defending well for 90 minutes, third, exercising great late game management.
Silkowitz and her best friends, the goalposts, put in a good shift. Leah Scarpelli and Holly McQueen were outstanding in the backline, making numerous crucial blocks and interventions, acting as Silkowitz’s bodyguards.
Freier, who usually plays as a winger, played in a wing-back position today and she was incredibly effective there. She covered a huge amount of ground for the entire 90 minutes, was actively involved in most of Roar’s attacks, and scored the insurance goal.
Yallop’s pace and physicality today were outstanding, and so too was her finish, past one of the most experienced goalkeepers in women’s football. But it was Woods who stole the show today for Brisbane. She created a number of goalscoring opportunities, including two phenomenal assists, and she even pitched in at the backline. What a revelation she has been. She’s definitely earned her spot in the starting 11 for the rest of the campaign.
Melbourne City will be disappointed with the result. After drawing with then bottom of the table Adelaide United last round, they would have been hoping to bounce back with a strong performance against Brisbane.
Their season, which started off so strong has begun to falter in latter stages of the campaign. But they will still have a number of positives to take from the match. Rebekah Stott was excellent in their backline, but sadly her fellow defenders were not always on the same page as her.
Ekić and Henry were fantastic up front for City, creating a number of goalscoring opportunities. Between them, they took nine shots and hit the woodwork three times. On another day, they could have scored three or four goals between them (I think that day was in December actually).
Teams: BRISBANE ROAR (5-4-1): Silkowitz, Scarpelli, McCormick, de la Harpe, McQueen, Freier, Norrie, Stephenson, Yallop, Woods, Corbin. Substitutes: Richards, Palmer, Hecher, Kirkup, Brodigan.
Scorers: Yallop 59’, Freier 61’.
MELBOURNE CITY (4-3-3): Bárbara, Varley, Stott, Otto, Roestbakken, Hughes, L. McKenna, Pollicina, Ekić, Wilkinson, Henry. Substitutes: Barbieri, Accardo, Davidson, McMahon, Meyers.
Referee: Bec Mackie.
Attendance: 2,158.
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