Richard Parkin 

A-League final round: Melbourne Victory 0-0 Brisbane Roar – as it happened

Minute-by-minute report: Melbourne Victory held Brisbane to a goalless draw to dash the Roar’s hopes of winning the premiership
  
  

Brisbane enter their final home-and-away season game two points behind Adelaide United. Victory at AAMI Park will see Roar crowned premiers.
Brisbane enter their final home-and-away season game two points behind Adelaide United. Victory at AAMI Park will see Roar crowned premiers. Photograph: Joe Castro/AAP

Final thoughts

So we have an answer to the riddle of who will win the 2015-16 A-League Premiership at last, after this remarkable close to the season: Adelaide United!

The Reds did the job last night at AAMI park in a polished performance against Melbourne City; tonight at the same venue, it was Brisbane Roar who couldn’t repeat the feat.

Brisbane with 16 efforts on goal, to Melbourne’s two. But a lot of these were ultimately disappointing or tame efforts.

Two or three really clear-cut chances, the best of which was squandered inside the opening minutes, with both Jamie Maclaren and skipper Matt McKay inexplicably failing to bundle the ball home, just metres out.

Victory for their part gave as good as they got in patches; especially near the end of the match.

Some wonderful drama, especially in the closing minutes. Two sides really going at it; but the winners were ultimately interstate.

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To relive all the drama, here’s the match report:

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Cue close ups of some shattered Brisbane players. The fun stat was that Melbourne Victory and Brisbane Roar have apparently never played a 0-0 draw; what a time to pull one out!

Ross Aloisi is reportedly reducing the away dressing room to absolute powder, Klaus Kinski style. Poor old Jade North looks devastated; that might be his last tilt at a Premiers Plate.

Full credit to Kevin Muscat and his second-string chargers; they have stood tall and been highly competitive tonight.

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Full-time: Melbourne Victory 0-0 Brisbane Roar

94: Oh, Johnny Aloisi! The dream’s over and Brisbane are denied the Premier’s Plate.

Absolutely gutting for Brisbane Roar, but they certainly deserved no more than a point. Some absolutely heroic ‘keeping from Lawrence Thomas, but a resolute effort across the park.

Tears in the crowd; them in Orange are heartbroken. They won’t mind over in Adelaide though – Adelaide United are premiers!

92 min: Connor Pain!! He’s made an absolute stormer of a covering tackle – Henrique flicks to who else – Thomas Broich – but the flying winger has come from nowhere to block the shot!

Broich, only metres out, rifling a sweet left-footed effort, but the ‘keeper doesn’t even need to make a save.

90 min: Pain in the book for a foul - and it’s three minutes extra-time added on.

The free-kick is fired in and it’s Donachie who jabs an effort, only to be denied by Lawrence Thomas!!

Would you believe this, it’s a goalmouth scramble in extra-time, and the Victory custodian has stood tall again! How many more important performances have we seen from this kid!

88 min: And now we have our ‘I’m almost crying’ close up shots of Brisbane fans; they’re not loving this – it’s Victory making all the running at the moment.

Maclaren capitalises on an error and wanders up the right flank to whip a cross. It ends with Thomas in goals though.

It’s getting a bit stretched – not helter-skelter end-to-end stuff, but it’s certainly both sides finding openings.

86 min: Victory with some sustained passing, they try to work round the box, before McKay launches a one-man effort to drive it up the other end.

After seemingly being on the back foot for minutes; now it’s the Roar with a corner.

Broich delivers, but Lustica fails to make much of the effort. Tick, tick, tick – where’s this Premiership-winning goal going to come from?!

82 min: A slightly ponderous buildup here from Brisbane – Henrique with a stepover in the box, a ball out to Brown, whose cross is then blocked, allowing Victory to launch a counterattack for the pacy Pain.

Geria makes way, a heavily brill-creamed Jai Ingham saunters on.

Finkler whips in a corner, and Corona almost heads past his own ‘keeper. Aloisis chew frantically, it’s a series of corners, but far from where they wish the ball was just now.

79 min: The crowd’s starting to get involved, Melbourne aren’t exactly sitting back, but you feel like they’ll be beginning to face a few efforts in coming minutes.

Lustica with an effort – it rolls wide.

McKay wanders through the middle, their fans try to ratchet the noise levels. It ends up a goalkick though.

77 min: An attempted half-volley on the Victory goal; it’s come from Jade North though – presumably not the man you’d want! Maybe desperation is starting to sneak in.

And look out – we’ve got a one-on-one and it’s Slippery Fish v Thomas!

A retreating Galloway does enough to force Henrique wide – he strikes it nicely, but Thomas fists away.

74 min: Lustica on for the Roar, it’s Petratos who makes way with some rumours circulating a dodgy hamstring might be involved.

So as it stands, a draw could see Brisbane slip to third should the Wanderers emerge successful away to Wellington; forcing the Roar to face an elimination final. Who do you reckon they might have to play?

Melbourne Victory.

72 min: Again it’s the patient buildup from the Roar. Some of that’s due to some decent pressing from Victory. Any concern that this would be a weakened, or lacklustre showing from the hosts can be put to bed; they’ve done well by their rivals Adelaide United, giving this match a pretty decent crack.

68 min: Update on the Melbourne Victory armband; it’s safely on the left upper arm of Bozanic; Thomas presumably just a caretaker for the 30 or so seconds it took for Bozanic to enter the playing field. Crazy stuff.

McKay starting to get a little bit too frustrated here – he’s gone absolutely mental; calling for a yellow card for Geria for a dive.

Ooh!! How very close. Bozanic with a driven strike that deflects of a Roar defends and bobbles agonisingly just over the far apex of Jamie Young’s goal!

Hearts-in-mouths for Roar fans; they haven’t made a great fist thus far of getting one; imagine the difficulties they’d face chasing two!

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65 min: Finkler now leads a press, he’s earned his corn tonight, has the Fink.

Jamie Young looks to get a Brisbane move happening. Petratos with a decent cross, before Broich pulls an ultimately tame effort wide. A nice little piece of buildup work from the former Johnny Warren medallist.

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63 min: Broich stands over another Brisbane corner, but it’s meat and drink for Finkler, who heads clear. Great to see the Brazilian playing ersatz-Delpierre with so many key players rested for the hosts.

60 min: And cometh-the-hour, cometh-the-man!

A sub a piece, Valeri makes way for Bozanic (with the armband remarkably going to Thomas in goals); but forget all that:

He’s a fish; he’s slippery; and he is on the pitch.

Game on, A-League. Game on.

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59 min: Big moment! Deng misses a crucial header and a lofted ball falls at the feet of Jamie Maclaren. He bares down one-on-one with Thomas, but the Victory keeper moves sharply to his left to make the save.

Ooh, will that haunt them? No seagulls on hand to blame that time; it was only Maclaren.

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57 min: Brisbane with it at the back; I won’t say with a surprising lack of urgency, but they are perhaps stretching the man on the streets definition of ‘patient approach’.

They fashion a chance though; it’s Broich trying to get on the end of it, but Thomas emerges with the ball. He’s been perhaps quiet, at least by his lofty standards, has the German, but if anyone can manufacture something from nothing it’s him.

55 min: A yellow card for Nigro, a nasty stomp on Corona, which the Spaniard doesn’t respond kindly to. No malice, just steps over the ball and catches those ever so delicate metatarsals.

It’s Victory with a rare counter-attack, but Finkler has squandered the opportunity. Over-Funk it, perhaps?

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52 min: A nice shot of some nervous looking Orange-clad fans. A bit too early to fire up the ‘finger nail cam’ but, hey.

Do we have a live-cross to a pub somewhere with some ‘bubbling nicely’ Adelaide fans?

The Roar win a corner - it’s the unlikely figure of Donachie with a volleyed snap-shot that deflects.

Corona with his low bobbling corner routine – they’ve done that a few times, have Roar – it finds Maclaren, but he fails to get good purchase on the shot.

Can’t afford to miss too many of these half-chances if they want to be premiers.

50 min: Tonight’s trivia quiz – how many Thomas’s are there presently on the pitch?

I’d answer, obviously, but I’m typing that bloody quickly I don’t even have time to check.

47 min: Some crisp work from Victory, they’re enjoying a spell of possession here. Not displaying tremendous urgency as they attempt to draw Brisbane out on to them.

Haven’t seen too much from young Howard up front – he’s ploughing a lone furrow, but it highlights the incredible workhorse that Besart “the Bes” Berisha is.

Second half - pfffffft!

45 min: And we’re back under way! Brisbane out of the blocks swiftly, an attempted cross from Hingert sees Thomas scrambling to tip over the bar.

Roar with the corner, and it’s not dealt with brilliantly. A nice near post flick and it bobbles before Melbourne scramble clear. Nervous moments early on.

Your thoughts on that opening salvo?

Some heated office banter over whether or not that Geria/Maclaren tangle should have been a red. What do reckon, if it was Nigel “Captain Red Cards” Boogaard involved he would have not only walked, they would have probably left the stadium and set fire to his car. Poor Boogers – nobody stands up for no-nonsense centre-halves these days..

So a tense, rather than action-packed first 45 there. Only that horrific Maclaren/seagull induced miss to McKay early on; but how much might the Brisbane captain come to rue that, should his side not find a winner?

Rick Back reckons he knows a pretty good way to break the deadlock:

“Just bring on #elpescadoslipperyo and get it over with!”

I don’t speak Spanglish but I reckon this is a shout-out to Henrique; and I’m on board. Let’s get that hashtag trending world wide, shall we?

So it’s Aloisis (Aloises?) John and Ross with all the pondering to do; nil-nil at the break.

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Half-time: Melbourne Victory 0-0 Brisbane Roar

45 min: Oar into the book – a late sliding lunge on Galloway. The Victory full-back is OK, but he picks up the free-kick.

And there’s the whistle!

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43 min: Maclaren goes down after a tangle with Geria. Seemingly accidental but the Brisbane player ratcheting up the pressure on the yellow-carded right back.

41 min: Petratos with a dipping, swerving volley – real shades of that wonder goal he scored a few weeks ago, but Thomas would be hugely relieved to see that effort flash just a metre or so above the crossbar.

Maybe that might spark the Roar. A crucial few minutes here.

38 min: Chants of ‘Campeone’ kicking round the stadium – you’d hope that’s ironically from the home fans, because if it’s Roar fans, then someone best remind them a draw won’t be enough to wrestle the Plate from Adelaide.

Oar has been a feature – so nice to see him back on Australian soil. The Roar fitness team has down brilliantly to get him ready for this massive fixture after so much time riding the pine over with Ipswich in the UK.

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36 min: First corner of the game for Melbourne. Nice work from Geria to draw the clearance from McKay. Dealt with by the Roar, and for just half a second it looked like Maclaren had a chance to run at the retreating Victory defence.

Thankfully one of those errant rats-on-wings got across his sightline and the moment was lost. Shades of Alfred Hitchcock inside AAMI, perhaps?

34 min: Oar with a whipped cross/shot that bobbles in front of Thomas, and the keeper spills it. A few hairy moments, but thankfully for home supporters there were no white (away kit) shirts on hand to punish the mistake.

Meanwhile Kevin Muscat gets his first talking to from referee Peter Green. He doesn’t appear to be dialling this in, then, Adelaide fans will be relieved.

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32 min: First booking of the evening – Geria’s brought down Maclaren to earn a yellow, but Aloisi(s) are howling on the sideline; they wanted a red for that last-man challenge.

Not quite shoulder-to-shoulder, but a red would have perhaps been harsh.

Corona over the top of a free-kick just a few yards beyond the box..

.. but it’s into the wall from the veteran Spaniard.

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30 min: Victory with some sustained possession around the edge of the Brisbane box; perhaps some of these young’uns are growing in confidence, they probe and test before the Roar get it clear.

Jamie Young with a clearance – he’s done well to keep the former Victory custodian Theo on the bench.

28 min: Finkler with some lovely touches in the middle of the pitch. I wonder how the fans inside the stadium will regard him knowing of his future transfer to Wellington Phoenix. It’s always hard when one of your best spurns you, but to fly across the ‘dutch’; hmmm.

25 min: A lovely cutback from Corey Brown and it’s Tommy Oar just inside the box, he winds up a sweetly stuck left-footed drive..

.. but it flicks the outside of the net! Some thought it was in; but let’s face it – that’s only ever those fans that are either a) easily excited or b) on their phones when the initial strike occurs and then racing to catch up with belated displays of support for their team.

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23 min: Hingert tries to whip in a cross from the right, but the Victory defence scrambles to intercept; corner to the Roar.

One of those rare outswingers that continues to meander away from goal. Barely inside the penalty box by the end, and needless to say, easily dealt with.

20 min: Brown hits long to the channels, but Deng marshalls Maclaren well. Some interesting match-ups all over the pitch, but the combination of Brisbane’s liquid front three and the young Under 23-capped defender is one of the tastier ones.

Young Nigro in the guts for the Victory, playing the ‘Mahazi’ role is another who will look to impress tonight. He’s a versatile lad – he came into the side at right-back, but tonight is playing through the middle in midfield.

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18 min: Tommy Oar ducks and weaves round the box, before Finkler steps in.

They talk about ‘ducking the shoulder’, but this kid (now mid/late twenties) must have double-jointed scapulas (scapulae?). He really can wrongfoot a defender if they let him.

16 min: Melbourne with just a third of possession early on, as Brisbane look to dominate the midfield.

A bit of argy from Valeri, as he pushes Petratos away to take a free-kick. Great to see the former Socceroo out there in the dark blue after his battle with some frankly scary medical issues.

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14 min: Deng does well to shepherd Brown over the touchline. Marginally better than poor old Thomas Sørensen did last night.

I’ve seen some great hip and shoulders, but that really was quite inexplicable from the veteran Dane; and didn’t it just sink his side to cop a penalty just before half-time.

Aloisi (John) is out of his seat; the water bottle in his hand is only 1/3 gone already, so it’s not panic stations just yet.

He points seemingly abstractly to various corners of the pitch, and presumably the players all adjust ever so slightly as to pose fresh problems for the Victory.

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11min: Jade North in a touch of bother here – he and Makarounas clash with raised feet, in an attempt to win the ball.

Phil Withall with an early observation on that heinous McKay miss:

“Having watched replays of McKay’s chance I’d warrant that the influence of a stray seagull, not Jamie Maclaren led to his failure to connect.”

Fair chance of that, Phil. Wouldn’t it be just typical if after 27 rounds of cut-and-thrust the Premiership is decided by a rat-on-wings.

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9 min: Corona steps in to steady things. A few nervy efforts from some of the younger Brisbane players; they will need the wise (wizened?) heads of Broich, Corona et al to keep them on task. Plenty of experience in this side though.

Thomas with it at the back; Brisbane not really pressing the keeper, but spring to press once the first ball is played.

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7 min: Tommy Oar has again looked lively and it’s a corner to Brisbane. The young defence of Gallifuoco, Deng etc is certainly being tested early on.

Meanwhile at the other end, it’s an awful error from left back Corey Brown, and Finkler and Ben Khalfallah combine to draw a save from Young.

Always a threat, those two – Brisbane will have to watch the swift counter.

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5 min: Apologies – it was Matt McKay with the final touch, but only after Jamie Maclaren air-swung in front of him! A remarkable start; two Brisbane players lining up in front of Lawrence Thomas, and bafflingly failing to make it count.

Please give us a close up of Ross Aloisi chewing his teeth into stumps.

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3 min: Good to see some of the seagulls that visited us last night at AAMI have returned. They make no distinction between the light blue of City or the dark blue of Victory.

Tommy Oar peels in a wonderful cross and Jamie Maclaren..!

Oooh!! Would you believe that – he’s Kanu-ed that from about two metres out! On the keeper to miss and Brisbane’s leading marksman hasn’t even drawn a save.

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Kick-off!

1 min: And we’re under way! Victory kick off, and literally kick straight to the Roar. They stroke some passes round the back four, just to familiarise, before in turn returning the favour. Very civilised beginning this; everyone gets a touch.

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The players are heading out onto the pitch as we speak; there’s the Plate! I’ve seen it - it’s just on the edge of the field!

Melbourne Victory fans have their scarfs aloft and it’s anthem time. You’ll Never Walk Alone it ain’t, but good on them for belting out Stand By Me.

Muscat’s looking calm, and the Fink and FBK will be absolved of Asian duty, so perhaps they’ll be keen to prove a point tonight at least.

Slightly more drawn faces on the Brisbane bench. All the onus is on Messieurs Aloisi & Aloisi to get the business down.

Peter Green will be our referee.

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As always get aboard this live-commentary train tonight - unlike the 8am to the CBD, this is one train that is more enjoyable with plenty of passengers on board.

Witticisms, musings, rants, or poorly cobbled strings of expletives welcome at richard.parkin.casual@theguardian.com or hail me on twitter @rrjparkin.

Righto, team news.

Melbourne Victory will be lining up as follows:

And Brisbane Roar look like this:

Nine new faces in for the home side’s squad - they’ll be missing big game players such as Delpierre, Barbarouses, Broxham and Georgievski etc; Besart ‘the Bes’ Berisha is also out suspended, so real opportunities to impress for young striker George Howard, attacking midfielder Jesse Makarounas and friends.

For the Roar, the big talking point will be Tommy Oar, starting his first game for Brisbane since his return to the A-League. Can he mark it with a goal? Or at least a trademark cross for the ever-impressive Jamie Maclaren.

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Preamble

Here we go! Well, we don’t have to pump the tyres for this one too much: it’s a very simple equation – if in 90 minutes time Brisbane emerge victorious, they will be the premiers for 2015-16.

In a final round that’s already had more twists and turns than a wombat’s warren, we not only see four (now three) teams in the hunt for the Plate, but the added machinations of sorting the final six placings, and accordingly, who gets to host the elimination finals.

Kenny Lowe had joked that if their game against Sydney were to prove a dead-rubber he might even pull on a jersey himself. Not that unlikely perhaps, given after the mass exodus of players following Perth’s salary cap infringements, the wily Brit had probably already registered himself.

Sadly, this shan’t come to pass, as Melbourne City’s capitulation at home to Adelaide last night, in addition to ending their tilt at the premiership, also puts their chances of a home final under threat, with Perth now a chance to finish fourth.

For tonight though, it will be all about whether a leg-weary and/or youthful Melbourne Victory can stand up to a Roar side knowing their hopes lie in their own hands.

It’s a tough ask for Reds fans – many on whom might return to AAMI stadium tonight – to sweat on a favour from Melbourne Victory; but thankfully there’s no bad blood between those two (*cough*).

Still, away to Victory is never an easy task – this should still be a belter, and I imagine Kevin Muscat would love to get one over a finals rival; with the championship race still to be decided.

As an added incentive, should Victory win, there’s a fair chance their opponents could slip to third – thus drawing the sixth placed team for the elimination final. Who’s that you ask?

Melbourne Victory.

So plenty to unfold - sit tight, strap yourself in; kick-off is just a few minutes away.

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Richard will be here shortly to relay the big game in Melbourne to you. In the meantime, here’s a quick reminder what happened last night in Adelaide, where United put one hand on the Premiers’ Plate – and several on their opponents during a half-time fracas.

 

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