Brisbane Roar striker Henrique was sent off for slapping, but it mattered little as the defending A-League champions romped to a 3-0 victory over Perth Glory at nib Stadium on Saturday night.
With the Roar already 3-0 ahead thanks largely to a brace from Besart Berisha; Henrique was shown a straight red in the 65th minute for his swift but stern slap to the face of Perth skipper Jacob Burns.
The slap was an act of revenge for Henrique after he copped an accidental elbow to the face from Burns just moments earlier as the pair contested a ball.
Perth couldn’t capitalise on the numerical advantage, with Brisbane’s fourth win on the trot lifting them to within three points of ladder-leading Central Coast, who face off against Melbourne Heart on Sunday.
Perhaps even more importantly, the Roar (41 points) are now five points clear in second spot, leaving third-placed Wellington (36) and fifth-placed Glory (34) with plenty of work to do in the final four rounds.
And in an added bonus, the Roar emphatingly proved they could flourish without attacking linchpin Thomas Broich, who missed the match with a shoulder injury.
Brisbane slumped to five straight losses earlier this season when Broich was out injured, but showed no signs of vulnerability against the Glory.
Henrique scored the opener in the 21st minute, but it was Berisha who deserved much of the kudos after his beautiful through ball sliced open Perth’s defence.
The fiery Albanian had one of his own in the 59th minute when he trapped Henrique’s cross in the box, held off defender Bas van den Brink before whistling the ball past Glory goalkeeper Danny Vukovic.
And the double was complete when Berisha tapped home a simple volley from point-blank range in the 63rd minute after Vukovic charged off his line to defuse Nick Fitzgerald’s run.
But in front of 10,367 fans, Henrique stole the headlines with his moment of madness, ruling him out of next Friday’s home clash with Melbourne Heart.
Nathan of Perth
Guest
Okay, this one is complicated, lets see if I can explain. Matt Ryan's was off a different character as there were two players in a confrontation and it was a shove not a strike, earning an Unsporting Behaviour yellow card. For Henrique its worth remembering that play had moved on and the referee had missed the elbow from Jacob Burns, so he was presented with Burns going down holding his throat in a behind-play incident from a strike. Violent Conduct card and good bye. Important to remember that the focus is player protection, so anything involving the throat is certainly going to be dealt with harshly. There were a couple of other matters related to the Henrique card and subsequent confrontation that I won't get into, but suffice to say, the cards given to Matt Ryan and Henrique (and the dissent card to Vukovic) would have been issued in those colours by 99% of refs.
Nathan of Perth
Guest
He got two weeks at the MRP.
Clayts
Guest
I agree with you. Why did Burns escape punishment for his blatant elbow? Why was Matt Ryan not sent off? Typical inconsistencies that have been driving us mad all season
JohnL
Guest
I wonder what will happen if Henrique's red card goes before the MRP? Henrique was rightly sent off for retaliation - no argument there. A day later, Matt Ryan retaliates and is given a yellow. Does Henrique suffer further punishment while Ryan is spared as his incident was dealt with by the referee during the game and no further action can be taken. Personally I'm in favour of "where there is smoke there is fire"; punish both acts - provocation and retaliation. Been my opinion since the 94 world cup when Leonardo was sent off for elbowing the american defender who had been man handling him all game. This might make players think twice when they decide to put in cheap shots. ie Behich on Ryan.
Clayts
Guest
Like your headline
Clayts
Guest
PS. Henrique stole the headlines?? I would have thought the headlines should read, "Perth flogged by 10 men at home" or words to that effect.
Clayts
Guest
In the end, Roar just buried them on the pitch with a great display of football and kept a clean sheet in Perth. Roar have now beaten CCM, NIX and PER all away from home, all by at least 2 goals and without conceding. Pretty impressive i think. Maybe that Premiers Plate that everyone said was sewn up when Mariners were 7 points ahead isn't such a cert anymore?
B.A Sports
Guest
x4 Burns is the king of the cheap shot. And to flop to the ground as easy as he did after the slap. He wants to be a tough guy, well stand up tough guy!
mick
Guest
I thought the elbow was a cheap shop
Swampy
Guest
Lol - exactly! -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.
Roarsome
Guest
Accidental elbow from Burns...... There's no such thing. -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.