Melbourne City played the majority of the second half a man down but still had too much class for the Brisbane Roar in a 2-0 A-League Men win at Suncorp Stadium.
City were down to 10 men two minutes after halftime when Taras Gomulka was red-carded for a challenge on Roar’s Kai Trewin.
Referee Tim Danaskos’ decision was checked by Video Assistant Referee Chris Beath and given the all-clear.
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City coach Patrick Kisnorbo did not believe it was a red-card offence.
“I didn’t see any malice in terms of Taras’ foot going over the ball in terms of studs … but you’ve got to move on,” he said.
“I was really happy with the way we defended and our mindset to work hard for the team. We showed great character.”
City big guns and Socceroos duo Mathew Leckie and Jamie Maclaren both fired in the win to further press their World Cup claims.
City’s defensive midfielder Aiden O’Neill tormented his former club and controlled play superbly in a first half where the visitors had eight shots on goal and enjoyed 71 per cent of possession.
Leckie was involved in everything from the left wing and had two shots saved by Roar goalkeeper Jordan Holmes in the first half.
Both of the visitors’ goals came in the opening period.
City were the most dangerous with the ball and made the Roar pay for a defensive lapse in the 22nd minute.
Andrew Nabbout let rip and centre-forward Maclaren back-heeled into the net after Thomas Lam had neatly laid the ball down from a corner.
Sixteen minutes later, Roar defender Connor Chapman brought down City’s Callum Talbot in the box and conceded a penalty.
Maclaren was clinical in scoring his second and went perilously close to adding a third with a vicious shot that went just over the bar.
City’s defence held firm despite losing Gomulka to take their season start to two wins from two.
Roar winger Carlo Armiento was quiet in the first half but became more involved in the second, as did striker Charlie Austin as brisbane looked to take advantage of their extra man.
Roar coach Warren Moon described City as “the benchmark of the competition”.
“But that doesn’t take away from our performance which I believe was poor,” he said.
“There were certain things we did that were really sloppy and below what I expect from this team.”
