Soccer: Brisbane come home with a hiss and a roar

Phoenix player Emmanuel Muscat in action against the Brisbane Roar last night. Photo / Getty Images

Roar 2 Phoenix 0

A brave Wellington Phoenix were denied a deserved point when undone by two late goals in going down to record-breaking A-League leaders Brisbane Roar on the Gold Coast last night.

The win stretched Brisbane's unbeaten run to 22, equalling the Australian record set in 1986-87 by Apia Leichhardt but for a time there was some anxiety in the home team camp.

While not scintillating, the first half was satisfying enough for Phoenix coach Ricki Herbert who would have been more than happy with what his re-jigged line-up gave him.

Against the much-hyped Roar, the Phoenix defence, again led by stalwarts Ben Sigmund and captain Andrew Durante, stood tall in a game played on a patchy, bumpy surface giving as good as they got for long periods.

Herbert, as expected, rang the changes for his team's second game in three days with Dylan Macallister and Chris Greenacre given the attacking reins as livewire Marco Rojas headed to the bench.

Daniel too was given a start but his was more of a supporting defensive role as fullbacks Troy Hearfield and Tony Lochhead worked hard in containing the ever-dangerous Kosta Barbarouses and German threat Thomas Broich.

The first spell rarely hit top gear but with the Phoenix having the better of the half chances as Macallister sought to continue his recent vein of goalscoring form.

After giving up much in the early possession stakes, the visitors, again with their hard-working midfield trio of Tim Brown, Vince Lia and Manny Muscat leading the way, battled back to terms in an opening 45-minute spell which produced just three shots (2-1 in the Phoenix favour) and just two corners - for the home side.

It was little surprise, given their hunger, that Brown and Lia were first into referee Ryan Shepheard's book.

Brisbane's first chance came in the 40th minute when Barbarouses stole the ball and fired a cross to Ivan Franjic who fired in a shot which Phoenix goalkeeper Danny Vukovic cleared for a corner. The last say was with Broich but his feeble attempt was comfortably dealt with.

Herbert went to his bench either side of the hour to give rare game time to Mirjan Pavlovic (for Macallister) and Nick Ward (for Daniel).

The talented league leaders continued to be frustrated by the resolute visitors who kept their shape and composure and went close in the 70th minute when Greenacre got his head to a long-range free kick but was just wide with Roar goalkeeper Michael Theoklitos nowhere to be seen.

Determined to give the unbeaten record his best shot, Roar coach Ange Postecoglou went to his bench introducing Henrique and James Meyer who immediately made his mark by being booked.

Not too many minutes later he went from villain to hero when, from a dubious free kick, he fired in a hopeful shot which took a deflection to beat the unlucky Vukovic for the 82nd minute game-breaker.

Eight minutes later Meyer scored his second to leave the Phoenix ruing what might have been against a team who have scored 17 goals in the last 15 minutes of games this season.