Brisbane Battle To Record Equalling Win

Roar Players celebrate Meyer's winner

After 74 years Eastern Suburbs rugby league club no longer has sole possession of the record for the longest unbeaten streak in Australia.  Last night Brisbane Roar joined them as co-holders of that title.  But it was a result that came in tough fashion for the A-League's reigning champions.

Newcastle Jets made life incredibly difficult for Brisbane with a high pressure game that saw the usually dominate Roar often struggling for their usual cohesion.  Roar were weakened by the loss of Mitch Nichols, Kofi Danning and Matt Jurman to Olyroos duty. Brisbane's efforts weren't helped by Ivan Franjic playing a large portion of the game with what looked like a slight hamstring problem and also Matt Smith coming off at halftime due to illness.  This change saw Franjic play the second half at the centre of defence.  Despite the changes and Newcastle's best efforts, Roar dug deep to find the win.

Despite how the match actually panned out it seemed in the early stages as though Brisbane were going to tear the Jets a new one.  But once the home side had found a toe hold they didn't let go for a long time.  They got their reward just minutes before the break when Ruben Zadkovich played Ryan Griffiths in behind the Roar defence and the striker finished clinically to put the home side in front.  From there it looked like an upset may be one the cards particularly with Smith having to be replaced at half time, but an enthusiastic performance on debut from Jack Hingert helped Roar dig themselves out of a hole.

The turning point may have come when Zadkovich clattered into his own keeper under pressure from Besart Berisha.  That left Ben Kennedy dazed and confused and he was ultimately stretchered off the park.  Roar then put two past his replacement Jack Duncan but to be honest neither were the youngster's fault.  Issey Nakajima-Farran squared a ball across the face of goal for the first and with Berisha dummying the Jets were caught out by Henrique at the far post.  The little Brazilian tapped in for his fourth of the season.  The second came from super sub James Meyer who caught the Jets napping with a brilliant first time strike after Luke Brattan and Berisha worked a short corner.

I'm sure many will consider the win undeserved by the Roar, but to be honest I disagree.  Certainly the Jets deserved something for their efforts but despite struggling the Roar were able to come up with the goods yet again despite having their backs firmly against the wall.  Most notable was the contribution of Postecoglou's three substitutions.  Hingert, Brattan and Meyer all came off the bench and had an impact in this game and helped win the game.  For me that was the impressive bit.  Despite our best players having an off day we were able to rely on our bench to turn the match.  That in itself is a great sign.

So now it's all about the next game.  We're at home on a Saturday night and will be attempting to break a 74 year old record.  Its a game that deserves to see a big crowd turn out and I hope the club makes a concerted push to market this game to as wide an audience as they can.