Queensland Roar put their finals hopes in jeopardy after drawing at home to New Zealand Knights. It was a familiar story for the Roar as they spurned numerous opportunities, while the Knights gained only their fourth point of the season.
Queensland Roar badly needed a win in front of their home fans and the team came out firing on all cylinders. Two minutes and Matthew McKay was put through on goal by Alex Brosque, only to be foiled by a last ditch tackle from John Tambouras.
Alex Brosque was again the architect in the 4th minute combining with Royce Brownlie, but he Roar strikers shot well wide off the mark. The Roar were full of running early, but lacked that killer instinct in the final third.
Starting with Jonathan Richter out wide, the Roar caused New Zealand some problems on the flanks. In the 10th minute a cross was only partially cleared and Tyler Simpson's follow up took a hefty deflection but bounced wide of the goal. On the quarter hour Richter's pace got hi in front of Frank van Eijs, with Richter upended in the area. After consulting the linesman, referee James Lewis gave a free kick outside the box.
Five minutes later and Richter was involved again, following up on Seo Hyuk-Su's free kick, which was dropped by Danny Milosevic. But the Roar winger could only manager to hit it straight at the Knights goalkeeper.
It took twenty minutes for any meaningful Knights attack. Ben Collett put in a good cross from the left, but Stuart McLaren cleared the ball. The call came rushing back to Earth and hit a Roar defender in the arm inside the box. The Knights appeals for a penalty were waved away by referee Lewis.
The Roar onslaught continued afterwards, Brownlie was through on goal, but Tambouras came to the rescue for the Knights once again. Then McKay saw his shot go wide. New Zealand did manage to get back up the other end of the field, and almost took the lead with Simon Yeo hitting a volley which whistled past the Roar goal.
On the half hour mark Alex Brosque charged down the left hand side. He saw Brownlie in the area and delivered a pinpoint cross to the Roar marksman. Brownlie glanced it delightfully to the far post, and finally Lang Park had something to shout about.
Now they had the lead the Roar took their foot off the pedal. It was to prove disastrous as a minute before half-time New Zealand got a free kick just outside the area. Collett whipped it in, and Yeo's flick header had Thomas Willis rooted to his spot. New Zealand was level and the Roar would have to regroup for the second half.
Needing a victory to get back in finals contention the Roar threw caution to the wind in the second half. The early signs were ominous, Seven minutes and Seo had his shot beaten away by Milosevic. Then substitute Spase Dilevski found Stuart McLaren unmarked at the far post, but his header hit the side netting.
Even though the Roar came forward in numbers they couldn't broke down the New Zealand defence. While the Knights had some joy on the left with the dreadlocked Jeremy Brockie beating his man on several occasions.
It took until the 70th minute for another shot on goal. Some nice inter-passing on the edge of the area, then Brosque found Brownlie in the area. He turned his man superbly and struck the shot goal wards. Milosevic somehow palmed it onto the bar, then picked up the rebound.
Osvaldo Carro was brought onto to bolster the attack on the hour mark, and the move almost paid dividends. With 15 minutes remaining, Carro went on a mazy run into the box, beating his man sublimely in the process. He lifted his cross over Milosevic, but not for the first time last night Tambouras cleared the danger.
The Roar could not find a way through, but looked like they could salvage something with a last minute free kick, just outside the Knights area. Seo stepped up and curled the ball around the wall into the bottom corner, but Danny Milosevic stretched out a paw and denied the Roar a victory.
Queensland will now need an impressive run of results to make the finals, while New Zealand received a morale boosting point and confidence for the next match at home.