A Luke Brattan hat-trick has seen Brisbane Roar come away with a 4-1 win over the AIS in their round nine NYL match at the AIS Athletics Track on Saturday.
A Luke Brattan hat-trick has seen Brisbane Roar come away with a 4-1 win over the AIS in their round nine NYL match at the AIS Athletics Track on Saturday.
The AIS took it to the competition-leaders in a game where the score did not reflect the closeness of the match.
But it was the class of an experienced Hyundai A-League player which proved the difference, Brattan scoring two long range gems, tapping in an opportunist goal and having a hand in the final goal.
It was a game of contrasting halves, the first saw the ball locked in the midfield and only a handful of chances and no goals.
The Roar were on top early but came close to scoring only once when Christopher Bush put a curling shot just wide in the 22nd minute.
The AIS gradually clawed their way back towards the end of the half, Hernan Espindola nearly setting up Ryan Edaward in the 34th minute before Aaron Peterson and Jake Barker-Daish both had shots denied by Matthew Acton within minutes of each other.
The game opened up in the second half, and it was the AIS who scored first in the 50th minute.
A perfect long ball by Edwards found Peterson ahead of his opponent around the penalty spot and he tapped it past Acton.
The Roar needed something special and they found it in Brattan, who has 49 senior games under his belt.
He stamped himself on the game, smashing a free kick on the right of the 18 yard box past a two-man wall and past a flat-footed Lennox in the 58th minute.
In the 75th minute he gave his side the lead with a bullet from well outside the box which sailed into the top right hand corner.
He was gifted his hat-trick late in the game when AIS defender Connor Chapman slid to clear the ball out of his defence area, only to put it past his goalkeeper Lennox and find Brattan unmarked in front of goal.
Brattan capped of an exceptional game in injury time, his cross was deflected past Lennox and found Matthew Thurtell running into the goal mouth.
Brisbane Roar 4 (Brattan 58, 75, 86, Thurtell 93)
AIS 1 (Peterson 50)
