Berisha Gives Roar A Heart Draw

Berisha scores

Besart Berisha rose above a traumatic week to nab a vital away point for Brisbane Roar overnight by netting a second half header.  Berisha's goal earned his side a 1:1 draw in a lively encounter.  However the night had earlier looked like ending on a much more sour note after missing a first half chance to draw his side level.

This match had a rather intriguing build up with much of the focus on the situation around Berisha.  The Albanian forward was forced to wait until late on Thursday to discover that he had been handed a suspension.  I'll talk more about that issue in another post.  But much to Melbourne Heart's chagrin the striker was actually allowed to play in this match due to the Roar having not decided on whether to appeal or not.  It was a situation that obviously did not suit either side.

The match however was a good encounter between two sides determined to play good football.  The match ebbed and flowed with both sides having the upper hand and being forced onto the back foot.  It was Heart however who took the initial lead when Roar's Christmas nemesis Jonatan Germano again popped up in the box to steal a goal.  Germano though had looked like he would turn from hero to villian later in the half when his sliding attempt to prevent a cutback saw the ball strike a trailing arm and the Roar were awarded a penalty.  With regular taker Henrique off the park Berisha stood up to take the shot and amid a chorus of boos he skied the ball over the goal.  At that stage it looked like a horror week for the Albanian was going to finish on a sour note having cost his side at least a share of the points.  But just like he did in the Sydney game he proved to be Johnny on the spot and he pounced on a deflection in the box in the second half to head home from close range.



The draw sees the Central Coast Mariners now get out to an almost unassailable eleven point lead and must now be clear favourites for the premiership.

It was again a frustrating night for the Roar as many of the same issues again came to the fore.  Too often play in the final third came to a stand still as Roar struggled to find a way to pass through a well organised Heart defence.  Much of this issue is coming from a lack of movement and pace of passing as compared with earlier in the season.  At the back we conceded again and had a bunch more nervous moments.  I'm all for the play out from the back mantra but there are times where I think we take bad choices and actually play ourselves back into trouble.

But we move on from here next weekend we host Newcastle Jets.  In the next day or so I expect that we will see the club make a decision on whether to appeal Berisha's suspension.  I think they might just accept it and have him sit out the match.  Ange Postecoglou will need to make a decision about who will start up front.  With the Asian Champions League looming we are needing to start hitting our straps a little more and this is a good game to show a marked improvement in our play.  Newcastle always trouble us so it will be good if we can control this game and win it nicely.