Perth Glory have succumbed to a Brisbane Roar master class at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday evening, losing 4-0 to the reigning Hyundai A-League champions.
Perth Glory have succumbed to a Brisbane Roar master class at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday evening, losing 4-0 to the reigning Hyundai A-League champions.
The match was over at half-time after Besart Berisha and Issey Nakajima-Farran both scored twice in the opening 45 minutes.
Perth were able to stem the tide in the second half but they failed to peg back the Roar’s advantage.
Brisbane’s victory saw them extend their unbeaten streak to 36 matches, which saw them break the record of the Eastern Suburbs rugby league team in the 1930s as the team with the longest unbeaten streak in professional Australian sport.
Ian Ferguson made three changes to the side that started Glory’s gutsy 2-2 draw against Melbourne Victory six days ago, with the manager handing Trent McLenahan his Perth debut while Tommy Amphlett and Todd Howarth also won recalls.
They replaced the suspended Liam Miller and Socceroos-capped duo Chris Coyne and Mile Sterjovski for the match but it was Brisbane who were on top early.
Josh Mitchell made a diving block to deny Henrique while Perth goalkeeper Danny Vukovic had to be alert to save Nakajima-Farran’s cross-cum shot.
But on 23 minutes, Brisbane got their first as Berisha found the back of the net for his eighth goal of the season.
The goal was classic Brisbane and there was little their opponents could do about it, with a neat passing move involving Matt Smith, Henrique and Thomas Broich finished off by the Albanian who converted Broich’s brilliant cross at the back post.
Henrique came close to doubling the lead before Nakajima-Farran controlled Broich’s long ball, took a touch and chipped over Vukovic.
Smith put a free header over the bar but on 42 minutes the match was as good as over when Nakajima-Farran made the most of a lucky deflection to score from a tight angle.
With the visitors on the back foot, Berisha rounded off the first-half rout when he smashed home a left-foot shot after Henrique fed him with a no-look pass inside the penalty box.
Ferguson introduced Brazilian Andrezinho and Steven McGarry at the break in place of McLenahan and Amphlett and Glory employed more of an attacking game plan in the second half.
Andrezinho in particular stretched the Brisbane defence but Perth couldn’t find a goal.
Berisha missed a sublime chance to score his hat-trick in injury time, missing everything when Broich played him in but it mattered little as Brisbane celebrated a comfortable victory.
