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Brisbane Roar secured a 2-1 win over North Queensland Fury on Tuesday night that was played in front of the smallest crowd in A-League history. There were extenuating circumstances, but just 1003 die-hard fans gathered at Skilled Park.
The previous worst was 1632 when the now-defunct New Zealand Knights hosted the Central Coast Mariners in Auckland in September 2006.
The Fury’s home match was transferred to Skilled Park because Dairy Farmers Stadium was a casualty of Cyclone Yasi.
Skilled Park, which is the A-League home of Gold Coast United, has hosted three of the four worst ever A-League crowds following attendances of 1658 and 1714 at two United matches this season.
For the Roar, they extended their record unbeaten run to 24 matches.
They were made to work hard for their chances because of the Fury’s defensive flooding tactics which meant as many as eight or nine players would be camped inside the penalty box.
It resulted in the ‘home’ side being light on in attack, leaving striker David Williams to carry the bulk of the work-load.
The Roar’s opening goal came in the 14th minute, with Socceroos midfielder Matt McKay setting up Mitch Nichols, who scored from directly in front.
Substitute Henrique intelligently chipped the ball over the head of hard working Fury goal keeper Michael Theokilitos from about seven metres to score the Roar’s second goal in the 58th minute.
The Fury got a goal back in the 65th minute when Chris Grossman’s cross deflected off the head of Milan Susak and lobbed over the outstretched hand of Roar goal keeper Justin Pasfield, but that was the end of the scoring.
Roar coach Ange Postecoglou said it was a “weird night” and his side failed to play with any real intensity.
“We got the job done,” Postecoglou said.
“It was just a weird night. It’s Tuesday night, both teams are playing away from home.
“The intensity wasn’t there and it almost becomes like a training run.
“…we didn’t play anywhere near where we can.”
He said the small attendance was the result of a unique set of circumstances and while it created a strange atmosphere at the game, where player’s calls echoed around the stadium, they had a bigger picture outlook.
“We’ve had three games here for three wins which is a good little run,” Postecoglou said referring to the Roar’s two ‘home’ matches transferred from Suncorp after the venue was flooded last month.
Fury coach Franz Straka said his players were thankful to be playing after a tough week in which in Townsville copped the fringe of Cyclone Yasi.
“We’re just happy to play after last week. It was very emotional after the horror,” Straka said.
“We played against the best team in the A-League and I think we did very well.”
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