Melbourne named an unchanged team coming into the game despite having lost two on the bounce. Queensland brought Brownlie into the starting line up – a fitting reward for his good performances against Adelaide and Perth.

The first chance of the game fell to Kirzbichler who fired a free kick into the box but it was easily dealt with by the Queensland defence. The Roar then worked a quick counter attack resulting in Brownlie attempting a lob but it cleared the bar.

Melbourne continued to have the better of the game. Danny Allsopp had a great chance after five minutes with a stopping header but Willis saved low to his right despite a small deflection. Panteledis fired over the top a minute later after some good build  up play although Willis had it covered.

On 8 minutes, Melbourne were presented with a golden chance but Archie Thompson headed over the bar from eight yards despite being completely unmarked.

About ten minutes later Queensland took the lead against the run of play. Spase Dilveski overlapped on the left and found Brosque in the area who hit a stinging shot. Galekovic got a hand to it but couldn’t hold it and McKay following through scores to give the Roar the lead.

Melbourne continued to make all the running despite falling behind and Thompson found space at the far post but got no power on it barely a minute after McKay’s goal. This was followed by another great chance for the Victory when Allsopp was played in by Ljeir but Willis saved well.

Queensland came back into the game in the second part of the first half with chances falling to Brownlie and Murdocca and Galekovic was also called on several times to cut out promising through balls, but on 25 minutes Melbourne had another gilt-edged chance when Panteledis had a free header from 4 yards but shot straight at Willis.

Both sides continued to trade half chances and Willis in particular was looking very sharp in denying the Victory.

Queensland came out for the second half a lot quicker than Melbourne and the first chance fell to Seo who shot just wide from 30 yards after good work by Brosque and Brownlie. Five minutes later Brosque won a corner after causing problems for the Melbourne defence and Brownlie headed the resulting cross just over.

A minute later, Melbourne had yet another great chance to snatch an equaliser when Willis fumbled a corner at the feet of Archie Thompson who blazed over the bar..

The game turned on the hour mark when Kevin Muscat was deservedly dismissed for a second bookable offence. Muscat committed three bookable fouls in about five minutes.

Queensland continued to put pressure on the Melbourne defence but lacked a cutting edge and created very little and the next chance again fell to Thompson who continued a miserable afternoon when, despite being clean through allowed the defence to get a block in.

Five minutes later, Melbourne had a good penalty shout turned down when Kitzbichler was brought down by McCloughan but the ref waved the claims away.

Claeys was sent off towards the end of the match after clattering Jordan Simpson. He appeared unlucky because although the challenge was clumsy – he was trying to pull out of it.

Match Ratings

Atmosphere:     7            A good atmosphere at Olympic Park despite the reverse result

Crowd:             8            A good crowd of 13,000

Result:             10           How the Roar got three points from this we’ll never know. Thankfully Archie Thompson forgot his shooting boots

Referee:            6            Not a bad performance although the Claeys red card was probably wrong.

Team Ratings

Willis                7            Had a few dodgy moments combined with some wonderful saves

Buess                7            Gets a bonus point for crunching Muscat and not getting booked

Dodd                6            Poor distribution and let Thompson go on several occasions.

Gibson              7            Quietly good

McCloughan     7            Lucky not to concede a penalty but didn’t do much else wrong

Dilevski            7            Provided an excellent attacking option

McKay             7           Well taken goal and pushed forward a lot better than normal

Murdocca        8           A much improved battling performance. Won key battles in midfield. Man of the Match

Hyuk-Su Seo    7          Just wide with a few chances and had another impressive game. Covered the ground well although he passes backwards too much

Brownlie           7         A good work rate combined with a good strikers instinct. Too many fancy flicks tried whereas the simpler ball would have been better. Not quite match sharp yet.

Brosque            8         It is frustrating to think that Alex is still without a goal since Round 1 because his effort cannot be faulted. A wonderful player to watch irregardless

Substitutes

Baird                 6         Caused the Melbourne defence some problems with his fresh legs when he came on but his head drops too easily and rarely tracks back after losing the ball.

Richter               7        Ran well

Simpson J        n/a        Not on long enough

Match Preview

Vs Melbourne Victory

Queensland face a difficult task in Round 11. Melbourne boast the A-Leagues best home record taking 3 wins and a draw from their five matches there so far this season conceding only 3 goals. Their three wins have all come without conceding a goal. It took league leaders Adelaide to break their home record with a 1-0 win there in Round 10.

The positive for Queensland is that they are equally hard to beat away losing only once, to Perth in Round 3 and have conceded only those two goals on their travels leaving a very impressive three away clean sheets.

This game can be easily summed up by Melbourne’s attack – the second most potent in the A-League and boasting the joint leading scorer in Archie Thompson – against Queensland’s defence who have conceded the joint lowest amount of goals and five clean sheets in ten games – a league high.

Unfortunately for Queensland’s attack (second worst in the A-League), Melbourne’s defence is also the joint lowest amount of goals in the league.

Despite these stats, Melbourne – not unlike their Rugby League neighbours the Storm, they find themselves some five points off the pace. This is due to a brittle tendency at times, most aptly demonstrated in their two games against Perth Glory where they simply didn’t turn up to either game.

In fact, in Round 4, when Queensland hosted Melbourne, the Roar looked the better team for a large portion of the game and it took a red card to McKay and a very dubious goal in the dieing minutes for the Victory to take anything from the game.

Melbourne’s key player is undoubtedly Archie Thompson, Australia’s all-time leading scorer in World Cup qualifiers, and fresh from the Belgian league where he was playing with Lierse. Thompson has been in fine form so far this season with 6 goals including two potential goals of the season – a dipping shot against Perth and a wonderful dribbling effort against Sydney when surrounded by blue shirts.

In goal, Eugene Galekovic has made the number 1 jersey his own with some fine performances.

Another key player arriving from the Belgian league is Geoffrey Claeys, from Mouscron. Claeys has won 10 Belgian caps in a fine career and will be a key player in defence. Claeys has settled into A-League life well and is ever present for the Victory. Partnering Claeys is likely to be Kevin Muscat, also captain, who played in the UK with Rangers and Millwall. Muscat is known as a hard tackler. He is most comfortable at right back where he will come up against Spase Dilevski but can also fill in at centre back alongside Claeys. At left back is Adrian Leijer who, at 19, is the youngest player in this Victory side and one for the future.

Another ever-present is Steve Pantelidis in the heart of midfield. At only 22 he lacks the experience of some of the more well known names of the A-League but he has an excellent engine and anchors the midfield well. Melbourne have another ex-international in former Austrian midfielder Richard Kitzbichler who arrives from Austria Vienna. Kitznbichler has mixed between central midfield and right midfield for the Victory. Another key player in midfield is Andy Vlahos – who is likely to start on the left hand side of midfield. He is another player who has returned from the Belgian league – from Cercle Brugge.

Completing the Melbourne midfield is Kristian Sarkies, one of the hottest young talents in Australia. He hasn’t had the best starts to the A-League and is yet to find the back of the net. He is at this best when playing in the hole behind the strikers.

Partnering Thompson up front will be Danny Allsopp. Allsopp has spent most of his career in the UK – starting at Man City and having spells at Notts County, Wrexham, Bristol Rovers and Hull City. He only has one goal to his name so far this season but is a good foil for Thompson.

Queensland haven’t had the most settled side of late but Willis will keep his place in goal after a good performance against Perth. Gibson, McCloughan and Dodd will line up in defence with Buess starting if Bleiberg goes for 4 across the back. More likely is a continuance of the 3-5-2 with Seo and McKay anchoring the midfield, Dilevski wide on the left and Murdocca wide on the right. Carro will continue to play the attacking midfielder role with Moon on the bench. Up front Brosque and Baird will probably continue to lead the line although Brownlie could force his way into the reckoning after a good performance against Adelaide.

Season To Date

Leading Scorer: Thompson 6

Average Attendance: 15,442 (3^rd)

TUQRS prediction: 1-1 draw