Brisbane Roar have shown no mercy to wooden spoon certainties North Queensland, consigning the Fury to their seventh straight defeat with a 2-1 win at Skilled Park on Tuesday night.
Rescheduled and moved from Dairy Farmers Stadium after Cyclone Yasi rendered North Queensland’s usual home ground unusable, the match was effectively a dead rubber between the newly-crowned champions of the A-League and a side anchored to the bottom of the table.
But both teams played with heart and intent and goals to Brisbane’s Mitch Nichols and Henrique and a freak strike from Fury’s Chris Grossman ensured the 1003 fans on hand to watch a game on neutral territory went home entertained.
It only took 14 minutes for the Roar to open proceedings through Mitch Nichols, set up by in-form James Meyer who teed the midfielder up at the top of the box.
His first shot was blocked but the scraps fell to him again and he followed up with a fierce volley that flew into the back of the net.
Despite their uncertain future and a guaranteed wooden spoon, the Fury made a fist of things and took the game to Brisbane, engineering their fair share of chances.
In the 27th minute, Simon Storey danced past two orange shirts before launching a powerful shot from distance but Roar custodian Michael Theoklitos had it covered.
10 minutes later Nichols should have had his brace when he McKay played the perfect ball in for him and should have gone for the shot, but he elected to play across the goal and it was easily dealt with by the Fury defence.
Barbarouses looked nailed on to score again in the opening stages of the second half after the Kiwi ran half the field on the counter attack to go one-on-one with Justin Pasfield, but defender Mark Hughes saved the day and chased him down with an inch-perfect tackle that robbed the Roar of a certain goal.
But in the 58th minute it came through some terrific one-touch trickery from Ange Postecoglou’s men, with Thomas Broich, Barbarouses and Henrique all linking together to toy with the North Queensland rearguard.
From the edge of the box, Broich played in Barbarouses with a lob that was expertly flicked onto Henrique, and the Brazilian laid on a deft touch to chip the ball over Pasfield to double their advantage.
That 2-0 lead didn’t last long, with North Queensland finally getting on the end of some good fortune as Chris Grossman’s cross from the left was driven straight into Milan Susak and deflected over a helpless Theoklitos in the 65th minute for a spectacular albeit unintentional goal.
Franz Straka’s men continued to press forward in search of an unlikely equaliser but the Roar held on for a win that stretches their undefeated streak to 24 games, with Saturday night’s M1 derby against Gold Coast United set for a night of celebration with the return to Suncorp Stadium and the presentation of the Premier’s Plate.
North Queensland will fly across the Tasman for their final match of the season against Wellington on Sunday, and with rumours about their precarious financial situation continuing to mount it may well be their last in the A-League.
Brisbane Roar 2 (Nichols 14′, Henrique 58′)
North Queensland Fury 1 (Grossman 65′)
Crowd: 1003 at Skilled Park, Robina
