Brisbane Roar coach Ross Aloisi was “ecstatic” with the manner in which his side were able to come away with the three points in a hotly contested 2-1 win over Central Coast Mariners on Sunday evening.
Roar took an early lead through Florin Berenguer, before having their first-half advantage cancelled out by an Alou Kuol equaliser.
Young gun Thomas Waddingham restored their advantage before the break, but the visitors had to dig deep in a fiery second half that saw midfielder Joe Caletti and Mariners substitute Harrison Steele both sent off.
Brisbane held firm to secure their second win of the Isuzu UTE A-League season going into the international break and Aloisi couldn’t have been prouder of their efforts at Industree Group Stadium.
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“I’m absolutely ecstatic with the way the players performed tonight,” he said on Paramount +.
“I thought the players did extremely well and the young kids that came on and the ones that haven’t been playing for a long period of time, that’s exactly what we want from the Brisbane Roar and we got that today.”
Aloisi felt his players handled the occasion well, in face of the dismissals, a disallowed Mariners penalty and their first goal being given the all clear from the VAR after Nikola Mileusnic looked to have dribbled the ball out of play in the lead-up to Berenguer’s opener.
He especially levelled praise at defender Scott Neville, who battled gastro-like symptoms after half-time to play the full 90 minutes.
“I always say to the players that we have to respect everyone, respect the opposition,” he said.
“I know it’s difficult our emotions do run high, and the referee probably got all those decisions, right. I’ll have to have a look at them.
“I’m extremely proud of the playing group and the football that they tried to play.
“‘Nevsy’ (Scott Neville) was throwing up at half-time. I think he’s got gastro and I can’t believe he actually got through that second half after what I saw at half-time.”
Brisbane came into the contest fresh off a 5-2 hammering at the hands of Wellington Phoenix and in the midst of a mini injury crisis, losing Jack Hingert, Jonas Markovski and Aaron Reardon to injury.
Corey Brown was thrusted into the side for his first senior appearance since March 2022, after summarily terminating his contract last August.
He returned to the club this off-season after it was determined that the Roar’s purported termination of his contract was invalid, with the Roar’s new management team led by Kaz Patafta and Zach Anderson issuing an apology to the full-back.
Brown played 45 minutes before being replaced by Antonee Burke-Gilroy who was signed in mid-week as a free agent.
“We’ve got a good mix of of players,” Aloisi said.
“We also had (Antonee) Burke-Gilroy come in who hasn’t played all season. I know he’s done the pre-season. I’m pretty sure he was at the Jets, but we signed signed him during the week and and he came on and did extremely well as well.
“The young boys that have come in and I’m extremely proud of Corey Brown because he put in a 45 minutes of real effort. It’s been tough for him.
“I think it’s 88 weeks since he’s played his last game, and I’m super proud for him and with all the players that came in.”
