Brisbane Roar moved off the bottom of the Isuzu UTE A-League ladder, ending Wellington Phoenix’s seven-match unbeaten run with a 2-1 win at Moreton Daily Stadium.
Goals from Rahmat Akbari and Henry Hore secured a fourth home win of the season for the Roar, while Gary Hooper the scorer for the visitors on Saturday.
The victory snaps a three-game losing run for Warren Moon’s Brisbane and lifts them off the competition basement ahead of Perth, although the Glory have played a game less.
Wellington’s bad day in south-east Queensland was compounded with captain Alex Rufer coming off before half-time with a left knee injury.
Nix head coach Ufuk Talay will be hoping the complaint is nothing serious given four players are set to fly out to Qatar on Sunday for national team duties in New Zealand including key midfielder Clayton Lewis and goalkeeper Oli Sail.
A fifth player, Tim Payne, will also join the All Whites after next Friday’s trip to Newcastle.
Returning home for Saturday’s game after a treble of away losses, the Roar made the perfect start when Akbari celebrated his selection for the Afghanistan national team by heading home his second goal of the season in the eighth minute.
On-loan Japanese forward Ryo Wada, making his first appearance for the Roar, delivered an inch-perfect cross to the far post which split the Phoenix defence and allowed Akbari to nod home from close range.
The Phoenix pushed for an equaliser but lost captain Rufer in the 36th minute when he limped off after a challenge on Akbari for which the Wellington player was booked.
The game took a sudden turn in the 72nd minute when Roar captain Tom Aldred was penalised for a trip on Jaushua Sotirio just outside the box.
Lewis’s free-kick smashed off the post and despite Sotirio failing to put the rebound into an empty net, Hooper flicked home the resulting corner to level the scores.
Brisbane responded almost immediately, however, when substitute Hore combined with impressive young midfielder Jesse Daley in the box before he smashed home his third goal of the season after Sail had saved his initial effort.
Brisbane travel west for their next game against the Glory in Perth.
