A late Jamie Maclaren goal has seen Brisbane Roar snap a three-game losing streak with a precious 1-0 win over Wellington Phoenix at Westpac Stadium on Saturday night.
An entertaining affair looked headed for a stalemate until Maclaren, who started on the bench for a second straight week, scored after being teed up by Brandon Borrello with three minutes to play.
On balance it was perhaps a deserved result for the visitors, who generated six shots on target to two but were repeatedly thwarted by the smart glovework of Glen Moss.
In a match that pitted fourth against fifth the first shot on goal came from an unlikely source with Roar right back Jack Hingert hitting the post with a left-footed effort.
The visitors followed that up with a long range strike from Tommy Oar, while Manuel Arana spurned a gilt-edged chance from the resulting corner.
Wellington worked their way into the match with Roy Krishna forcing a sharp save from Michael Theo, while Roly Bonevarcia channelled countryman Dennis Bergkamp as he tried to find a way through Brisbane’s defence.
Roar midfielder Dimitri Petratos fired a couple of thumping long range strikes but in the end it was teammate Maclaren who found himself in the right spot late on to side-foot home the winner.
Catch up on the action at the match centre here
GOALS
0-1 Brisbane Roar, Jamie Maclaren, 87’
A mistake at the back by Andrew Durante allowed Borrello to ghost in behind Wellington’s backline, squaring the ball for Maclaren who was able to stroke it into an empty net.
HIGHLIGHT
An exquisite flick and pirouette from Roly Bonevacia had the Dutchman through on goal in the opening half but he was unable to bring the ball under control at full stretch to finish the chance.
INJURY WARD
Phoenix midfielder Vince Lia succumbed to a leg injury early in the second half, while Corey Brown’s night came to an abrupt end when the Roar defender was upended by Jacob Tratt with a sliding tackle.
Re-live the match action on Twitter
@ALeague, @WgtnPhoenixFC, @brisbaneroar, #WELvBRI
