Brisbane move into top four after rolling the newly-crowned Premiers

Brisbane Roar jumped into fourth spot on the A-League table with a comprehensive 3-0 victory over Melbourne City at Moreton Daily Stadium on Tuesday night – just three days after City lifted the Premiers Plate.

Jay O’Shea scored a pair of penalties on either side of an Alex Parsons strike as the Roar took full advantage of mass changes to the City lineup to seal the three points needed to break clear of the congestion building from sixth spot to tenth on the table.

City boss Patrick Kisnorbo gave Daniel Georgievski his first start for the club against Brisbane, but his night began on the wrong foot when Parsons nicked ahead of the City defender to win his side a penalty with just five minutes on the clock.

O’Shea finished off Parsons good work before the 21-year-old got in on the act himself in the 38th minute, burying a low strike past the near post of stand-in City ‘keeper Matthew Sutton in the 38th minute.

Kisnorbo attempted to stem the bleeding at half-time with a pair of defensive changes, but substitute Alec Mills became the next City man to concede a penalty just four minutes after the restart when putting a late foot in on Jesse Daley as he arrived from midfield into the penalty box.

O’Shea beat Sutton to the goalkeeper’s right with the first penalty and sent the second straight down the middle to score Brisbane’s third goal of the night.

Both sides made a raft of changes throughout the final half hour as the game drifted to the final whistle, allowing the Roar to collect the three points needed to move above Central Coast Mariners and Macarthur FC into fourth spot on the table.

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Key Moments

The home side’s lively attack proved too hot to handle for an understrength Melbourne City defence as Parsons won the Roar an early penalty off a late challenge from Georgievski inside the penalty area in the fifth minute of play.

The 21-year-old made a surging run into the box to connect with an invading through ball played over City’s defensive line, taking one touch to cut back past Scott Galloway before Georgievski swooped in to clatter the Brisbane forward.

O’Shea stepped forward to score his first of two penalties of the night, placing the ball past Matthew Sutton in goal.

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Given a rare start in the City lineup, Naoki Tsubaki came close to providing the equalising goal down the other end when he tied Jordan Courtney-Perkins in knots before dispatching a shot from a tight angle off the right-hand side of the penalty box.

Tsubaki drove the ball toward the bottom left corner, leaving Roar ‘keeper Jamie Young to stand and watch as the shot flashed between arriving bodies and the far post to go out for a goal kick.

Joey Champness saw his claim for a penalty waved away by referee Alex King after another incident involving City’s Georgievski, before Parsons put the home team two goals to the good with a finish from close range which beat Sutton from a tight angle.

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Jamie Maclaren cut a lonesome figure in City’s frontline without the likes of Andrew Nabbout and Craig Noone joining him in the City lineup, and the Golden Boot leader failed to finish his best chance of the first half when Young tipped his shot destined to hit the back of the net just past the top-left corner of goal.

Patrick Kisnorbo made a pair of defensive changes at half-time, bringing Nuno Reis and Mills in for Galloway and Curtis Good. Just four minutes into his appearance off the bench Mills conceded a penalty to the Roar, clipping Daley in the box who went down under the contact.

Referee King failed to spot the initial foul but gave the penalty after checking the incident on the pitch-side monitor, leaving O’Shea to return to the spot to secure his brace with a neat finish down the middle of goal.

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