Roar unable to break down Glory

The Round 10 clash between Queensland Roar and Perth Glory ended 0-0 after an entertaining game at Suncorp Stadium.

The home side made two changes after last weeks 1-2 home defeat against Adelaide with Tom Willis replacing Scott Higgins in goal and Spase Dilevski replacing Remo Buess. The Glory was hit with a number of injuries after last weeks 2-1 home win against Melbourne Victory, Ante Kovacevic, Brian Deane and Adrian Caceres were all unavailable and Hiroyuki Ishida was home in Japan getting married.

The Glory coach had to reshuffle the pack with Matt Horsley moving to the centre of the defence and Henry Fa'arodo starting on the right of midfield with Stephen McMahon moving to right back. The Glory’s Shed supporters, who had made their first “Tour of Duty” for season 2005, were in full voice prior to kick off, with 200 supporters making the trip from the West.

It was a quiet opening but the signs were good for the home side with Michael Baird and Alex Brosque combining well to cause the Glory defence problems, Brosque’s low drive was held well by Jason Petkovic. The Roar were enjoying the majority of the ball but couldn’t take their chances, a surging run from Brosque sent him clear of Harnwell but he shot straight at Petkovic.

The Glory began to get in the game with Simon Colosimo at the heart of most of their movements, after great work from Bobby Despotovski on the left his cross found its way to Colosimo who fired inches over the bar from 20 yards. The game began to open up with chances at both ends, the Roars Hyuk-Su-Seo capitalized on a poor pass from Despotovski but his shot on the run was just wide of the post.

The Glory were defending well and hitting on the counter-attack, Despotovski played in Damian Mori whose deflected shot was well saved by Tom Willis. On the stroke of half time it was Brosque again played in by Chad Gibson but his shot was superbly saved by Petkovic to keep the game scoreless at the break.

The Roar came out in the second half on fire and went close twice in as many minutes. Firstly Baird was sent clear by Brosque who beat the oncoming Petkovic but the ball was cleared by the alert Horsley, and moments later Baird’s shot beat Petkovic but was blocked again by Horsley and the rebound was fired into the side netting by Matt McKay.

The Roar couldn’t break down the Glory defence with Horsley and Harnwell outstanding but missed chances from the home side were becoming a major headache for Coach Miron Bleiberg as Baird again fired wide after good work from Hyuk-Su-Seo. The Glory again hit on the counter-attack with Nick Ward sending Mori clear down the right he found Despotovski who fired wide.

The Roar began to take complete control of the game and the Glory had Petkovic and some poor Roar finishing to thank for that. A stunning strike from Osvaldo Carro hit the cross bar and Karl Dodd’s long range effort was wide of the target. The Roar supporters and players appealed in vain for a penalty in the 61st minute when Bairds shot seemed to strike Matt Horsley’s arm, but referee Simon Przdacz waved away their protests.

Moments later it was Baird again who hit the target but Petkovic saved well at full stretch. The Glory soaked up the Roar pressure and almost snatched the lead in the 66th minute. Mori was brought down on the edge of the box and Despotovski curled the free kick around the wall and only inches past the post with Willis well beaten.

The crowd of 13,685 tried to lift the home side but again poor finishing let them down with Baird, Brosque, Richter and Moon all going close. In a dramatic final 10 minutes both sides had chances to take all three points, Baird wasted a great opportunity for the Roar when he failed to make a descent contact to a Brosque cross with the goals at his mercy. The Glory could have snatched the points themselves in the final minutes but after great work from Mori wide on the left Billy Celeski wasted the chance from close range.

Both sides face tough road trips in Round 11 with Queensland travelling to Melbourne to play the Victory and Perth taking on league leaders Adelaide at Hindmarsh.

Glory coach Steve McMahon was delighted with his sides performance especially with the number of forced changes he had to make, "It's a great point, when you work as hard as that, you deserve it and I couldn’t have asked for any more out of the players today."

Roars coach Miron Bleiberg was a little more subdued after the game. "I feel like the most unluckiest coach of the most unluckiest team in the world, I give full credit to the boys. They played well and tried their hearts out and it just doesn’t come."

Team Line-Ups

Queensland:
1. Tom Willis, 2. Karl Dodd, 4. Chad Gibson, 5. Josh McCloughlan, 8. Massimo Murdocca, 9. Michael Baird, 15. Matt McKay, 16. Hyuk-Su-Seo, 19. Alex Brosque, 21. Spase Dilevski, 22. Osvaldo Carro - Subs; Scott Higins, Remo Buess, Jonathan Richter, Warren Moon.

Perth:
1. Jason Petkovic, 2. Matt Horsley, 4. Simon Colosimo, 5. Jamie Harnwell, 6. Stephen McMahon, 7. Scott Miller, 8. Nick Ward, 10. Bobby Despotovski, 18. Henry Fa’Arodo, 19. Naum Sekulovski, 22. Damian Mori - Subs; Milan Jovanic, Billy Celeski, Stuart Young, Adrian Caceres.

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