36 Straight, Roar Take All Codes Record

Brisbane Roar FC rewrote the record books overnight with a stunning 4:0 win over Perth Glory at Suncorp Stadium.  In doing so they overtook the Eastern Suburbs RLFC side of the 1930s as the holder of the longest unbeaten streak in Australian professional sport.  There may be plenty of knockers out there who want to down play Roar's achievements but there is no denying the magnitude of what this club has achieved and most importantly the way in which they have done.

Roar send a messgae to their fans

Roar's win came from a dominant first half performance where each of their imports ran rampant in a performance that saw the contest well and truly over by the break.  At the back, rangy Bahraini defender Mohamed Adnan was simply imperious.  Perth seemed to want him to be the one to take the load of playing out from the back and the experienced international made a mockery of them with sublime play on the ball and outstanding defending.  Thomas Broich pulled the strings in midfield delivering superb assists for the opening two goals while the attacking trio of Henrique, Besart Berisha and Issey Nakajima-Farran delivered flair and goals.  Berisha and Issey both grabbed first half doubles while Henrique destroyed right back Trent McClenahan so completely that the debutant was replaced at the break.  But it was an outstanding man of the match display from Nakajima-Farran that highlighted the night.  The Canadian delivered what Roar fans had been waiting weeks for with a complete performance capped by a brace of deft finishes.

Man of the match, Issey Nakajima-Farran

Perth really got their tactics wrong in the first half and the choice to start Andrezinho and Steven McGarry on the bench really didn't help their cause.  They looked happy to sit back and defend, hoping to grab something on the counter attack. What they got was a Roar performance so completely devastating that Perth were out of the game by the break.  The early signs were good for the hosts and it was almost inevitable when the first goal came.  Henrique put Broich in behind the Perth defence and the German squared a pass across goal to Berisha to tap home at the far post to cap a clean, crisp and clinical attacking move.  Brisbane's second though was even better.  With nothing seemingly on Broich spotted Issey start to make a run a chipped a deft pass over the Perth defence to find the winger in open space in the penalty box.  While his first touch was a fraction heavy, Issey kept his composure and sublimely chipped Danny Vukovic for double Roar's lead.  The Canadian then extended the lead to three when he pounced on a deflected Ivan Franjic pass and again delicately chipped his shot past a flailing Vukovic.  The emphatic exclaimation mark at the end of the half came from Berisha who smashed a shot into the roof of the net after being played into yet more open space in the box.  The second stanza was largely a procession for Roar and they failed to further extend their lead.  In the dying second of the game though Berisha should have capped the performance with a hat trick when Broich once more found him unmarked in the box.  But the Albanian took an ungainly swipe at the ball and found only clean air.  But a win was a win and Roar had their record.

As I said earlier there will be many who try to detract from Roar's achievement by suggesting the number of draws in soccer make it a bit of joke.  That's all well and good but the existing record by Easts contains at least four draws that I know of, so that whole argument is a bit of a moot point.  The reality is that Roar have done something remarkable.  Just eight years into their existence, hampered for the most part by financial problems and in a league with salary cap contraints, they have put together a record that no football team in any code has managed for 74 years.  If that doesn't impress you, then its quite probably that you're the one with issues.  Like it or not, Roar now hold a national record which may well stand for many decades to come, and they aren't done yet.  The reality is that for real sports fans like myself, this was a remarkable achievement and one that should never been underestimated.

On a bright note, Roar posted their biggest crowd of the season with just under 20,000 turning up on a rain soaked night to watch the match.  Over the last two home games we have seen a significant increase in crowd numbers and hopefully this is a sign that the club has turned a significant corner off the park as well as on it.

Finally a massive congratulations to Ange Postecoglou, all the players past and present and all the back room staff.  The way this team plays is outstanding and long may it continue.