A 95th minute equaliser from substitute Corey Brown has rescued a point for Brisbane Roar as they secured a late 1-1 draw with Wellington Phoenix at Suncorp Stadium.
In a game short on clear-cut chances it was the away side who struck first with Bozhidar Kraev powering his header past Macklin Freke in the 51st minute.
Kosta Barbarouses almost made it 2-0 in the 85th minute however Brisbane stayed alive and snatched a dramatic late point care of Corey Brown’s header in the 95th minute as the Roar ended a difficult week on a positive note.
The result means Giancarlo Italiano’s Phoenix side missed out on the chance to go five points clear of second-placed Melbourne Victory who play Newcastle Jets on Saturday night.
As for Brisbane, a point for Ruben Zadkovich in his first game in charge means they’ve avoided a fourth consecutive loss and move into 8th on the ladder.
Zadkovich was forced into a big change before kick-off with captain Tom Aldred injured in the warm-up and subsequently replaced in the starting line-up by James Nikolovski.
After a cagey start to proceedings from both sides it was Brisbane who fashioned the game’s first chance; Henry Hore drilling a low effort safely into the gloves of Wellington goalkeeper Alex Paulsen.
The home side were then forced into two more substitutes before half-time. First, Henry Hore was withdrawn in the 37th minute after picking up a knee injury before Jack Hingert was then withdrawn a minute later as a concussion substitute after suffering a nasty clash of heads with Wellington’s Lukas Kelly-Heald.
Both Nicholas Pennington and Kosta Barbarouses then forced saves out of Brisbane keeper Macklin Freke in first half stoppage time and while the deadlocked remained intact at the break, it was broken soon after the restart.
With Corey Brown coughing up possession of the ball on the edge of the Brisbane box, Mohamed Al-Taay then whipped a pinpoint cross onto the head of the unmarked Bozhidar Kraev, who headed home from inside the six yard box to make it 1-0.
Now searching for an equaliser, Ruben Zadkovich turned to his bench for inspiration and brought on Marco Rojas for the final 30 minutes at Suncorp Stadium against his former side.
Wellington keeper Alex Paulsen was then called into action in the 67th minute, tipping Carlo Armiento’s long range effort round the post before being tested again by the Brisbane forward five minutes later.
The home side began to crank up the pressure and Wellington defender Isaac Hughes then produced a brilliant block to deny Armiento in the 80th minute.
With the away side now happy to soak up the pressure and hit Brisbane on the counter Macklin Freke produced an excellent save in the 85th minute to prevent Barbarouses from doubling Wellington’s lead.
But with less than a minute to go in stoppage time the home crowd finally had something to cheer as Keegan Jelacic’s dinked ball to the far post was powered home by Corey Brown to seal a hard-fought point for the Roar.
More to follow.
