Melbourne Heart’s dismal away record continued on Sunday as they went down 3-0 to Brisbane Roar at Suncorp Stadium despite competing strongly for the opening 45 minutes.
Melbourne Heart’s dismal away record continued on Sunday as they went down 3-0 to Brisbane Roar at Suncorp Stadium despite competing strongly for the opening 45 minutes.
The Heart created a number of clear scoring opportunities only to be let down by inaccurate finishing, while tactical adjustments in the second half enabled the Roar to take control of the game.
Henrique shone when moved out of midfield and into a central attacking role in the second term, and scored twice for Brisbane, while defender Matt Smith netted for the second time this season to seal the win.
Iain Ramsay and Michael Mifsud were guilty of narrowly missing the target on several occasions for a Heart side which has failed to win on the road in 16 games.
A delightful diagonal ball over the top from Andrea Migliorini released Ramsay after five minutes but the Heart winger snatched his left-footed shot wide of the post.
An error from Brisbane left-back Corey Brown allowed Mifsud to accelerate past Smith and bear down on goal, but his effort also skidded past the upright.
Ramsay’s curling free kick flew just over the crossbar after 13 minutes as the Heart continued to put the hosts under plenty of pressure in the opening exchanges.
The Roar’s first chance was conjured by Matt McKay, who slalomed past a pair of Heart defenders before sending his shot just past the far post.
Brisbane’s deep-lying midfielder Luke Brattan stripped David Williams of the ball before sending Henrique through on goal with a precise pass, but the Brazilian’s low attempt was also off target.
Thomas Broich was then granted enough space by the Heart’s defence to shoot on goal from 25 metres, but Andrew Redmayne managed to latch on to the ball after an initial fumble.
Just after the half-time break, McKay played a diagonal pass to Kwame Yeboah who was unable to beat Redmayne at his near post.
A minute later the Roar were in front, however, as Brattan scooped a precise pass with the outside of his foot into the path of Henrique, who controlled the ball with his chest then finished clinically to make it 1-0.
The lively Brazilian almost poached a second after 57 minutes, but Redmayne did well to block his shot.
Ramsay then smashed a powerful effort against Michael Theo’s left upright from outside the area as the Heart pushed for an equaliser.
Brisbane doubled their lead moments later when Dimitri Petratos, who had just replaced Yeboah, cleverly made space for himself on the edge of the area then fired in a shot that was too hot for Redmayne to handle.
Henrique followed up the attempt and stroked the rebound in the back of the net.
Smith was on hand to bury his chance after 76 minutes when Ivan Franjic chipped a ball over the top to McKay, who crossed accurately to the lurking Roar captain.
Brisbane Roar 3 (Henrique 48, 65, Smith 77)
Melbourne Heart 0
Crowd: 15,011 @ Suncorp Stadium
