Four first-half goals sent Brisbane Roar en route to a thumping 5-1 win over reigning Isuzu UTE A-League premiers Melbourne City at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday evening.
Thomas Waddingham scored his first two Isuzu UTE A-League goals on either side of half-time as Jay O’Shea, Keegan Jelacic and Kai Trewin – who also bagged his maiden league goal – all found the back of the net in a statement victory.
Brisbane were up 5-0 just seconds after half-time, with Terry Antonis coming off the bench to score a 73rd-minute consolation goal for City in Queensland.
City defeated Brisbane 8-1 on December 28 in what was the equal-biggest losing margin in the competition’s history; early in the second half on Saturday, the home side looked a genuine chance of overturning that horrendous deficit in just one game before the goals dried up at Suncorp Stadium.
But from a seven-goal defeat in December came Saturday’s four-goal triumph for Brisbane – the 11-goal swing was just two shy of the all-time Australian National League’s record for the biggest turnaround in a single men’s season, according to Australian football historian Andrew Howe.
Jamie Maclaren’s goalless outing was his sixth in succession for City – it’s the first time Maclaren has gone without a goal in six-consecutive games in a single season since 2015.
The emphatic result brought the Roar level with seventh-placed City, who have conceded nine goals in their last two games, on 21 points.
“It’s the Roar’s revenge!” Said commentator Ben Homer as the full-time whistle blew.
“Beaten 8-1 by City in December, it is they who hand out the punishment six weeks later. A 5-1 victory, a statement win here at home, and they are back in sight of the top six!”
The Roar led 1-0 just minutes after kick-off and it was unlikely scorer Trewin putting the hosts into the lead with his very first Isuzu UTE A-League goal.
The 22-year-old, playing his 95th game for Brisbane on Saturday, broke the deadlock with a powerful header after Jelacic’s flick-on at the front post off O’Shea’s corner delivery.
Waddingham scored four Australia Cup goals in pre-season but the 18-year-old went 13 games without breaking his duck in his debut Isuzu UTE A-League season, before he joined Trewin in scoring his very first league goal against City.
Nikola Milseusnic picked out Waddingham in between two City defenders with a tempting cross and the teenage striker bundled the ball over the line from inside the six-yard box to make it 2-0..
Brisbane took 30 minutes to carve out a two-goal lead, and a further nine minutes to make it four.
O’Shea was next in Brisbane’s goalscoring queue, burying a curling left-footed strike from outside the box into the bottom-left corner.
Jelacic made it 4-0 with his first Brisbane goal – and the Olyroos star’s swerving strike from distance was the pick of the bunch in a dream first half for the home side.
City boss Aurelio Vidmar made three changes at the break, with Alessandro Lopane, Andrew Nabbout and Harry Politidis replaced by Mathew Leckie, Marin Jakolis and Terry Antonis.
But Vidmar’s search for an instant response from his side after half-time was in vain. One minute after the restart Waddingham made it 5-0 to Brisbane, picking Curtis Good’s pocked as he attempted to dribble out of defence to bury his side’s fifth goal of the night past City keeper Jamie Young.
The stage was set for Brisbane to pile on the misery but the hosts couldn’t find the back of the net again throughout the second half; Jelacic missed a glorious opportunity to secure his brace before Antonis bagged City a mere consolation in the 73rd minute.
