Adelaide United and Brisbane Roar shared the points at Suncorp Stadium last night in a game that the visitors had every chance to win.
Former Roar striker Sergio Van Dijk was incredibly generous to his old team, steadfastly refusing at least three perfectly good chances to score the winning goal. One chance he spurned late in the game, which has made all the highlight reels, he could have scored just by sticking out any part of his body and deflecting the ball into the net. But somehow the big Dutchman contrived to put it wide and high.
But all that was ahead of us, when the two teams lined up. Both were missing players to the Olyroos, with perhaps Brisbane hardest hit without the services of Luke De Vere in defence. Milan Susak moved into central defence with Matt Smith. Matt Mundy filled in at right back.
Adelaide's line-up looked strong and settled. The international twin strike partnership of Marco Flores from Argentina and Sergio Van Dijk posed the real problems for the home defence, fed from midfield by the passes and vision of Paul Reid, the pace of Pantelis, and the direct running of Hughes and Leckie.
And unusually for a Brisbane home game, it was the visitors who made the better chances throughout the game. Roar had more possession, but Adelaide were much more directl with the ball, and Flores particularly was finding space in advanced positions and looked a constant threat.
Adam Hughes had a powerful shot from range hit the corner of the cross bar and upright in the 5th minute. And in the 13th minute, Flores's close skills earned him a chance inside the box, but he scuffed his shot slightly and Theoklitos saved.
So although Brisbane created a couple of moments of excitement, and indeed Reinaldo went close to scoring in the 7th minute, it was no great surprise when Adelaide took the lead in the 26th minute. Roar surrendered possession in midfield, and Leckie strode forward, a couple of stepovers and then a dazzling low left foot shot perfectly into the corner of the goal. The Roar defence had failed to close Leckie down, and Theoklitos this time couldn't save their bacon.
Brisbane fortuitously drew level six minutes later. Thomas Broich hit the freekick from the left. Galekovic adjusted his stance anticipating a touch from someone or anyone, but the ball flew straight past him, untouched, into the net. Mark that goal down as a goalkeeping error.
So it was level at half-time, and Brisbane had enough possession to keep their fans believing in a win. The passing game lacked fluency on this occasion, and Murdocca and Mackay were below their best. Thomas Broich was the Roar's most potent weapon throughout the game and he went close a couple of times.
But the story of the game as it wore on were the misses by Van Dijk The first two were tough chances, but the last one, which wasn't, brought tremendous relief and amusement to the crowd and the inevitable chant of "what a waste of money".
The Roar are still misfiring in front of goal, but this time they could not even hold up a fine passing display as a second prize. New Costa Rican signing Jean Carlo Solorzano toiled manfully, but looks to be a similar type of striker to Reinaldo. This writer suspects Solorzano would form a better partnership with Kosta Barbarouses than Reinaldo, and maybe we will see that combination tried from the start soon.