An undermanned Melbourne Victory outfit suffered a 5-0 defeat to the Brisbane Roar at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday evening.
An undermanned Melbourne Victory outfit suffered a 5-0 defeat to the Brisbane Roar at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday evening.
Besart Berisha struck a double while Thomas Broich, Erik Paartalu and Mitch Nichols also got on the scoresheet for the Hyundai A-League champions in a terrific team performance that soured Ange Postecoglou’s return to Brisbane.
Postecoglou made four changes to the side that lost 2-1 to Melbourne Heart eight days ago, with Mark Milligan, Archie Thompson and Marco Rojas missing out due to international commitments while Leigh Broxham dropped to the bench.
The Victory boss sprang a surprise by handing 20-year-old Andrew Nabbout – who scored twice in a youth team trial against Altona Magic on Tuesday – his debut while Danny Allsopp, Spase Dilevski and Jimmy Jeggo also came in.
Brisbane made an energetic start, looking to press Victory at every opportunity, and they had the ball in the back of the net after just five minutes.
Paartalu’s left-footed effort was ruled out though, after Roar striker Berisha was interfering with play in an offside position and Postecoglou’s men took encouragement from their early reprieve.
Allsopp had an early chance with Brisbane goalkeeper Michael Theo rushing off his line to deny his former team-mate, while he had another effort on goal just moments later.
But on 21 minutes Brisbane took the lead, with a quick throw-in from Shane Stefanutto setting up the goal.
Stefanutto found Massimo Murdocca and he supplied the assist for Broich who beat Victory goalkeeper Lawrence Thomas at his near post.
Immediately from the kick-off, Brisbane were on the attack again and they won a corner which was headed home by Paartalu after Thomas came for the ball but could not get past a sea of bodies.
Dilevski hit the top of the net with a left-foot strike from distance while Allsopp headed a Guilherme Finkler header over but it was a half dominated by Brisbane and they were well worth their two-goal lead at the break.
Allsopp continued to have most of Victory’s chances but shot straight at Theo on 55 minutes and just after the hour mark, Brisbane sealed their victory with a third goal.
A rare long ball from Theo created it, with Nichols quickest to react before supplying a neat cutback to Berisha who side-footed home into an unguarded net.
The introduction of Theo Markelis for his Victory debut, and Jeggo, failed to change things and Berisha was only denied a double by the offside flag.
Roar got their fourth when Nichols capitalised on a mix-up to finish well from close range with eight minutes left before Berisha capped off the rout with another tap-in during stoppage time.
The impressive Ben Halloran was only denied by the woodwork just seconds before the final whistle went as Victory suffered their worst ever Hyundai A-League defeat.
With two defeats from as many matches this season, Postecoglou will demand a response when his side meet an in-form Adelaide United outfit at Etihad Stadium on Friday.
