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Adelaide United are the A-League premiers with Melbourne Victory and goalkeeper Lawrence Thomas denying Brisbane’s ambitions in a steely stalemate at AAMI Park.
Against a weakened Victory outfit, Brisbane needed a win to sit on top of the ladder at the close of the season but came up short against an inspired home side.
Thomas made an incredible reaction save to deny James Donachie in injury time, after superb efforts to deny Jamie Maclaren and super-sub Henrique earlier.
The result confirms Adelaide’s astonishing transformation from zeroes to heroes, jumping off the bottom of the table after eight winless weeks to start the season.
On Saturday night, they watched and waited from Adelaide, needing the Roar to slip up against Victory.
Their arch-rivals duly delivered as Brisbane botched their chance to win the premiership in John Aloisi’s first season in charge, handing the Reds a first premiership in a decade.
“We did more than enough to win it. We created a lot of opportunities … we found Lawrence Thomas in top form,” Aloisi said.
“We were in a good position to win it tonight but I can’t fault the players.
“It wasn’t meant to be. I have to congratulate Adelaide United.”
Victory courted controversy by resting a spate of senior players, making seven changes from their last A-League outing, as they managed personnel from their Asian Champions League campaign.
Pre-match predictions of one-way traffic looked set to be fulfilled when Tommy Oar curled a perfect cross to an unmarked Matt McKay after three minutes.
But the Roar skipper fluffed the tap-in and so began a wretched night for Aloisi’s men.
Brisbane did the lion’s share of attacking but, time and again, the inexperienced Victory side stymied the premiership chasers.
Kevin Muscat hailed his team, saying their recent few performances would catapult them into the finals in top nick.
“It’s amazing what the mind can do if you believe in yourself,” he said.
“With a back four, with an average age of 20 years old, to come up against a good attacking Brisbane team, they handled themselves superbly.”
Brisbane could yet suffer further for their slip-up.
Should Western Sydney triumph on Sunday, Brisbane will slip to third place, miss a crucial week off in the finals campaign and welcome Victory to Suncorp Stadium for an elimination final.
The match was also Gui Finkler’s last home appearance for Victory, having agreed on a move next season to Wellington.
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