Brisbane Roar outclassed North Queensland Fury 2-0 with a Kosta Barbarouses double at Dairy Farmers Stadium on Saturday night.
Barbarouses opened the scoring in the 6th minute and doubled the lead in the 76th minute to keep the Roar on course for a maiden A-League title.
Dyron Daal withdrew from the game hours before kick-off making it eight players out due to injury and the Fury behind the eight-ball from the get-go.
Roar coach Ange Postecoglou said the win placed his side in a comfortable position 10-points clear at the top but needed to finish off the season strong.
“We are in good position that is for sure, we have been very consistent in our performances and results are following on but they don-t hand out things, we need to finish it off,” he said.
“The first half was scrappy, we got the goal and I think with the conditions maybe we were looking for a cheap victory.”
“At the end of the day we got the job done up here and that is the most important thing, we will keep building.”
Fury keeper Justin Pasfield said the opposition was too strong and well drilled for the encounter.
“That is why they are top of the table, they are a great outfit, we tried to break them down but credit to the boys it is our second game in 48 hours but they were too good for us tonight,” he said.
“We created a lot of chances but we can-t rely on them all the time, we need to put all the chances we can get away.”
“That team compared to what we played last time was totally different, they knew our game plan.”
Brisbane took an early lead with Thomas Broich delivering a perfectly weighted long-ball to Barbarouses which caught the defensive line out and left an advancing Pasfield in no-mans- land.
Barbarouses took the ball in his stride and dribble around the helpless keeper to slot in the opening goal.
North Queensland butchered a chance when David Williams raced past defenders on the right wing but he refused to shoot, offloading to Ufuk Talay who also thought twice and passed to Jason Spagnuolo on the left.
Spagnuolo sent a cross into a packed box with the ball falling to Gareth Edds but his attempt was poor allowing Michael Theoklitos to punch the ball away.
The Roar found some space after the break with Broich and Jean Carlos Solórzano having cracks from outside the box with some finding the side of the net and others forcing diving saves from the goalkeeper.
Matt Mackay split two defenders with a precision through ball for Barbarouses who deftly threaded the ball through the legs of Pasfield to double the lead.
The Fury toiled hard to pull back a late goal and Williams almost replicated the opener from Barbarouses when he picked up a long ball and outpaced the central defender.
Williams then attempted to chip the ball over goalkeeper Theoklitos but his touch let him down and the ball went loose.
North Queensland Fury 0
Brisbane Roar 2 (Barbarouses 6th, 76th)
Crowd 4,412 at Dairy Farmers Stadium
