North Queensland Fury have turned in a great performance at Suncorp Stadium, leading the Brisbane Roar from the ninth minute until the hosts were able to steal a 1-1 draw with a late equaliser to Ivan Franjic.
Statistically, the Roar were dominant, but the Fury were just as threatening and deserved to take a point in the contest between first and last on the Hyundai A-League ladder.
David Williams was the star for the visitors, and after setting up the first goal to Gareth Edds, he should have had a second assist in the second half, after playing Jason Spagnuolo into what looked like an unmissable position.
Having led for over 70 minutes, North Queensland coach Franz Straka would have had the right to feel hard done by, but he was happy to take positives out of snapping a losing streak away from home and against the competition leaders.
“I’m very happy with the point, especially after three defeats. We played very well tactically, which was the key to our success,” he said.
“They play some excellent football, but we did well to close the gaps and shut down a lot of their midfield play.”
Brisbane Roar coach Ange Postecoglou wasn’t looking to take anything away from the valiant visitors, but made sure to give his side a plug for showing great heart in a tough game during a hectic run of matches.
“Credit to the Fury, they came here with a plan and it worked well for them. They were good.”
“You can’t question the commitment of our blokes.”
“There wasn’t a lot of space and we lacked a little bit of spark, but individuals stood up when we needed and it was great for Ivan to get the goal,” said Postecoglou.
North Queensland took just nine minutes to push ahead of their highly-fancied rivals, with Williams playing a perfect ball into the area where Edds steamed in and slotted home.
The Roar had conceded first for the third consecutive game, and again they looked to hit back fast, but, with some help from the wood work, the Fury were holding their grip on the lead.
The Fury had a free-kick from a dangerous position in the 28th minute, but the pink-clad Theoklitos was up to the task, punching the ball clear to put the home-side back on the offensive.
Brisbane were doing enough to dominate the possession, but after Erik Paartalu missed a pair of shots heading into the break, and Matt Smith left the ground with a lower back injury, it seemed as though it might not be their night.
North Queensland came back from the break still feeling the pressure of Brisbane’s dominance of possession, but the visitors should certainly have doubled their lead in the 55th minute.
In similar circumstances to the opener, Williams took the ball on the right and then fired in a pin point cross, but the goal went begging as Spagnuoulo somehow missed the open net.
Brisbane appeared to have their equaliser in the 58th minute, but after Jean Carlos Solorzano slotted past the keeper, he turned around to find the linesman’s flag up and received a yellow-card from the referee for playing past the whistle.
Solorzano had another chance on a break-away and Luke DeVere went close with his head, but the opportunities continued to fly wide for the Roar, and the Fury looked almost certain to hold.
But coming from behind is fast becoming a specialty for Brisbane, and once-more the late winner was delivered just as defeat looked imminent.
Matt McKay took possession on the left hand side, looked up, and then floated a lovely ball over the area and on to Franjic who took the ball and hammered it past Justin Pasfield.
Brisbane Roar 1 (Franjic 85)
North Queensland Fury 1 (Edds 9)
Crowd: 10,126 at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
