Off-season recruits Andreas Kuen and Yonatan Cohen shone for Melbourne City in a comfortable 4-1 win over Brisbane Roar at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night.
Kuen opened the scoring inside the first minute of play before assisting two Cohen goals on either side of half-time; Brisbane pegged a goal back from the penalty spot through Jay O’Shea before Steven Ugarkovic iced the result with his third goal of the season.
City’s fourth away win from four games this season sent Aurelio Vidmar’s side up to third on the Isuzu UTE A-League table – albeit with the remaining five games of Round 7 still to play. Brisbane meanwhile remain planted to the foot of the table with just one point from six games so far this season.
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At the full-time whistle, Network 10 commentator Simon Hill highlighted an impressive record notched by City on Friday night, and an unwanted piece of history achieved by Brisbane on a sour night for the hosts at Suncorp Stadium.
“(City) are four wins from four on the road this season, a new club record for City,” Hill said.
“And a record for Brisbane too, albeit an unwanted one: it’s the first time in their history they’ve lost six-consecutive home games as problems only deepen for (head coach) Ruben Zadkovich.”
Brisbane’s last win at home came in March against Melbourne Victory; the Roar ended last season with three-straight home defeats and have begun the new campaign in the same fashion.
For City, however, Friday night’s win continued a bizarre trend for Aurelio Vidmar’s side, who have now won all four of their away games this season but have lost their two home games.
Up next is a clash with league-leaders Auckland FC at AAMI Park in what promises to be a stern test of City’s ability to break their home drought.
City’s impressive performance in Brisbane came in the absence of Socceroos stars Mathew Leckie and Marco Tilio, who are both missing with respective hamstring injuries.
In the build-up to Friday night’s game, head coach Vidmar hinted both Leckie and Tilio are closing in on a return; after watching Kuen and Cohen lead an impressive attacking display in Brisbane, Network 10 analyst Amy Chapman pondered the “scary” prospect of adding the Socceroos duo back into the selection mix in the coming weeks.
“Melbourne City were almost flawless tonight,” Chapman said.
“It’s a little scary when you know they’ve still got Tilio to come back, they’ve still got Leckie to come back. Melbourne City will take a lot of confidence out of this performance.”
City took just 52 seconds to take the lead at Suncorp Stadium.
Austrian midfielder Andreas Kuen was the early goalscorer, firing City into the lead after robbing Scott Neville of the ball and making the Roar defender pay with a composed finish under pressure.
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City doubled their lead before the 20-minute mark and after scoring the opener, Kuen turned provider for his side’s second of the night.
A deft volleyed pass from Harry Politidis sent Kuen tearing toward the byline and his cutback cross was perfectly placed for Cohen, who scored his second Isuzu UTE A-League goal in three games from close range.
The visitors almost pulled three goals clear in the 36th minute when James Jeggo’s rasping strike from distance flashed just wide of the left-hand goalpost.
Rafael Struick cleared the danger for the Roar as City attacked via a set piece but Jeggo was waiting on the edge of the penalty area; his volley had plenty of power but just lacked the accuracy to find the back of the net.
Brisbane had half-chances to peg one back through respectively speculative attempts on goal by Struick and Jay O’Shea but City held firm to the break with their 2-0 lead intact – a lead that almost blew out to three when Cohen rattled the woodwork with a near-perfect curling strike from the edge of the area just before half-time.
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The onus was on Brisbane Roar to come out swinging in the second half – and there was a positive response from the hosts, with Harry Van Der Saag calling Patrick Beach into an early save after the restart.
Van Der Saag was one of two substitutes brought on at half-time along with Jacob Brazete, with Struick and Florin Berenguer the two players who made way.
O’Shea came even closer to cutting City’s lead in half with a free-kick that had City keeper Beach beaten, but the venomous effort crashed off the post.
But for all of Brisbane’s good work at the start of the second half, it was City who scored the next goal and it was Kuen and Cohen combining once again.
Kuen notched his second assist of the night at the end of a driving run to the edge of the area; the Austrian picked out Cohen arriving in the box whose first-time, curling effort rattled into the top-left corner to put City in cruise control.
“Yonatan Cohen has a double – again, Andreas Kuen the provider,” said Simon Hill on the Network 10 broadcast.
“Those two have ripped Brisbane to shreds this evening!”
Co-commentator Daniel McBreen added: “What a beautiful finish but how about the run from Andreas Kuen.
“Strength, speed, and off-balance gets the ball out… the imports combine again for the third. Fantastic play.”
But then, the Roar received a glimmer of hope when Nathaniel Atkinson fouled Brazet in the box and a penalty was awarded to the home side.
The initial call from referee Sam Kelly was to waive Brisbane’s claims for a penalty away but after a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) review, Kelly returned to the field of play to reverse his call and grant the hosts a spot kick.
O’Shea converted with composure to make it 3-1 at Suncorp Stadium.
Any hope of a miraculous comeback was quashed by Ugarkovic’s 82nd-minute finish.
The City midfielder’s third goal of the season put the away side 4-1 ahead at Suncorp Stadium and confirmed City’s fourth win from four away games this season.
