Wenzel-Halls double leaves Adelaide dazed and sends Brisbane top

Dylan Wenzel-Halls scored twice as Brisbane Roar surged top of the A-League with an impressive 3-1 win over Adelaide United on Saturday evening.

Wenzel-Halls beat Adelaide ‘keeper James Delianov with a brilliant near-post header on 37 minutes before Jay O’Shea raised the roof at Dolphin Stadium with a superlative curling strike from outside the box to double Roar’s advantage.

Wenzel-Halls had multiple chances to add a third and make the match safe in the second and despite a few rare moments of indecisiveness, the effervescent ex-NPL Queensland man secured all three points on 80 minutes after his shot swerved and squirmed through the grasp of the otherwise-excellent Delianov.

Adelaide lacked the attacking impetus offered by Brisbane and did not register a shot on target until Nathan Konstandopoulos beat Roar shotstopper Macklin Freke with a low drive that went in off the post in consolation.

The visitors did not ever truly look able to prise open a Brisbane side that now sit on top of the A-League ladder ahead of second-place Central Coast Mariners’ clash against Wellington Phoenix on Sunday.

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Key moments

Adelaide coach Carl Veart unleashed a strike partnership of Mohamed Toure and Kusini Yengi in Redcliffe and despite some promising moments between the Reds starlets, the Brisbane defence kept the visitors in check for the opening 45 minutes.

Toure did have the Roar defence and ‘keeper Macklin Freeke scrambling by flashing an effort across goal after Ben Halloran pulled the Roar rearguard asunder. Later on, Toure left Hingert for dead before attempting to tee up the run of Halloran but the chance was snuffed out by a brilliant sliding challenge from Corey Brown.

Apart from that, it was all Brisbane, who had fired a few warning shots at Delianov before their dominance was made to count through Wenzel-Halls’ outstanding header.

Riku Danzaki and O’Shea exchanged passes in the right channel before the Japanese youngster released the run of Hingert, before the fullback’s whipped ball fom the byline was exquisitely flicked past Delianov by Wenzel-Halls’ near-post header.

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Brisbane doubled the advantage through O’Shea’s superlative effort from distance. Scott McDonald and Rahmat Akbari combined before spotting the Irishman in space on the edge of the box.

O’Shea, formerly of Sheffield United, Bury and Chesterfield, found the top corner with a goal of the season candidate that drew Dolphin Stadium to their feet.

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Brisbane did not resume after the interval with the flow on display in the opening 45 minutes but Moon’s side turned the screw near the hour mark and Wenzel-Halls received a hat-trick of chances to make Roar’s lead three.

First, Wenzel-Halls forced Delianov into a sharp low save to his right before the striker could not get on the end of Brown’s cross across the face. Then, the former NPL Queensland sensation latched on to quickly-taken free kick but in a rare moment of indecisiveness, Wenzel-Halls could not sort out a finish and Delianov was there to smother the danger.

But persistence paid off for Brisbane’s sensational 23-year-old attacker from Ipswich, who secured all three points on 80 minutes after his shot swerved and squirmed through the grasp of the otherwise-excellent Delianov.

Adelaide had not tallied a shot on target for 80 minutes but Nathan Konstandopoulos changed that with a late consolation, the midfielder’s late drive a blot on an otherwise sterling performance from Brisbane.