Moore Heads Brisbane Home

By: Ahmed | August 29th, 2009

A goal and a clean sheet have capped off an inspirational performance by Craig Moore as he led his team to a 1-0 win over the Central Coast Mariners at Suncorp Stadium this afternoon.

In a match which saw a number of chances squandered, it was the defender who showed the coolest head as he buried a powerful header early in the contest to give the Roar a first win of the season.

The game started slowly as both teams adapted to the warm conditions at Suncorp Stadium, but Moore was keen to get the ball rolling and duly did so with the opener on 11 minutes.

The Brisbane skipper beat Pedj Bojic to Matt McKay’s dangerous corner and powered the ball into the top corner to give the Roar an early lead.

Midway through the half Sergio van Dijk put Robbie Kruse through on goal with a great ball over the Mariners defence, but as the youngster waited for the ball to drop Nigel Boogaard scurried back in time to take the sting out of the shot.

The Roar suffered a blow on 25 minutes when McKay was unable to overcome an injury after colliding with Bojic and forced acting coach Rado Vidosic into his first substitution, with David Dodd taking his place.

The Mariners had to wait until the half-hour mark for their first real chance and almost made the most of it when Bojic’s free kick had Liam Reddy scrambling to see the ball whiz past the post.

After combining to great effect against Wellington last week, Henrique and Charlie Miller were again looking dangerous, playing a wall pass to allow the Brazilian into the box on 36 minutes before the angle became too tight and the shot into the side-netting.

The home team should have doubled their advantage in the final minutes of the half with a series of gilt-edged chances that just wouldn’t find their way into the net.

Henrique again charged at the Mariners defence and squared to Kruse at the top of the six-yard box but Danny Vukovic spread himself well to keep the shot out.

The ball rebounded to the Roar attacker, who this time teed up van Dijk but Bojic denied the Dutchman with a desperate lunge.

Brisbane immediately regained possession and Henrique again tore down the right to put the ball across the face of goal for van Dijk, who slid in to meet the ball but couldn’t get it on target under heavy pressure from Bradley Porter.

The chances dried up at the start of the second half but the Roar managed to again find their rhythm on the hour mark when Miller played a neat wall pass with van Dijk and tested Vukovic’s reactions with a smart toe-poke at goal.

As the clock ticked down the visitors began to apply the pressure and gave the Roar a real scare in the 82nd minute when Bojic met a dangerous free kick from Nicky Travis with a header that deflected narrowly over the crossbar.

A 93rd minute corner caused chaos in the Brisbane penalty area and the ball fell to Ahmad Elrich at the top of the box but the Central Coast winger’s shot was comfortably wide of the goal.

Van Dijk, who scored in each of the first three rounds was desperately unlucky not to make it four from four and kill off the match in the dying stages.

Reinaldo set up the big target man on the top of the box for a left-footed volley that flew into the arms of Vukovic, before he sent a free kick crashing onto the cross bar with the final chance of the game.

In typical fashion, Moore played down his heroic performance and said he hoped the team could build on the result.

“We’re just pleased to pick up three points finally,” he said. “The boys in there are happy with the result but we still know that we can play a lot better.

“I think that was extremely important for us today because hopefully off the back of this win now we can grow in confidence and look to get ourselves slowly starting to move up the table.”

This was a ‘Hyundai Goals for Grassroots’ match; the goal scored by Brisbane Roar ensures $2000 goes to Mitchelton FC.

Brisbane Roar 1 (Craig Moore 11’)
Central Coast Mariners 0

Brisbane Roar: 1. Liam Reddy (gk), 3. Luke DeVere, 4. Craig Moore (c), 9. Sergio van Dijk, 10. Charlie Miller (11. Reinaldo 82’), 12. Matt Mundy, 13. Henrique, 15. Matt McKay (6. David Dodd 25’), 16. Bob Malcolm, 18. Danny Tiatto, 24. Robbie Kruse (17. Mitch Nichols 74’).

Unused substitutes: 20. Griffin McMaster (gk).

Yellow cards: David Dodd 53’, Matt Mundy 63’, Bob Malcolm 81’.

Red cards: nil.

Central Coast Mariners: 20. Danny Vukovic (gk), 4. Pedj Bojic, 5. Brad Porter, 7. John Hutchinson, 8. Dean Heffernan (15. Andrew Clark 79’), 9. Nik Mrdja (22. Nicky Travis 59), 14. Michael McGlinchey (21. Ahmad Elrich 73’), 16. Nigel Boogaard, 18. Alex Wilkinson (c), 19. Matt Simon, 23. Adam Kwasnik.

Unused substitutes: 1. Andrew Redmayne (gk).

Yellow cards: nil.

Red cards: nil.

Referee: Ben WILLIAMS.

Crowd: 6433 at Suncorp Stadium.