Neither side came out the victory when Melbourne City and the Brisbane Roar met on Saturday night, with the final score being a 1-1 tie.
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Final score
Melbourne City 1
Brisbane Roar 1
Fresh off lifting the FFA Cup, Melbourne City have to refocus as they host a Brisbane Roar team with high hopes of securing a top two finish in the A-League. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 7:50pm AEDT.
Melbourne was able to secure its first piece of silverware as a club after defeating Sydney FC 1 nil on Wednesday night. Victory in the FFA Cup however will only prove worthwhile if City can build some winning momentum in the A-League.
City currently sits in second position on the A-League ladder but is yet to recapture the scintillating form that saw them beat rivals Melbourne Victory so handsomely in round two.
City at their best are the team to beat this season. Their forward line contains exceptional quality with Bruno Fornaroli and Tim Cahill being well served by Argentine duo Fernando Brandan and Nicolas Colazo.
If the preceding quartet remains injury free, City are going to cause plenty of problems against every team in the comp, let alone the Roar tonight.
Brisbane however do boast a win over City already this season – a 1 nil triumph up at Suncorp Stadium. In that contest, City managed to dominate possession but hardly created any chances of note against a Roar outfit that defended well and created plenty of chances on the counter attack.
The Roar however will be without former Socceroos star Brett Holman who is out for six weeks with a small tear to his meniscus. Socceroo Tommy Oar will have to chip in with a strong performance if Brisbane hope to ask City’s defence some questions.
Despite being in fourth position on the ladder, Brisbane’s attack is relatively poor compared to the rest of the field, with Adelaide the only team to have scored fewer goals so far this season.
John Aloisi’s men however have been pragmatic without the ball though and City will have to play an up-tempo game to disrupt a resolute Brisbane defence.
Given the hard toil on Wednesday night, City may once again turn up a little flat against Brisbane at home.
With Cahill in doubt, key figures Colazo, Brandan and Fornaroli have to aim up and lead the way in a match City must win to keep pace with league leaders Sydney FC.
Prediction
At their best, City should secure the win.
City 2-0
Charrua2
Guest
The quicker the referees stop the shenanigans from players, the better will be for the A league supporters. There are some good players in the A-league and overall we have entertaining games, but, we do not need players complaining to the referee after the ref blew the whistle, we do not need play acting either. Agree now that we have seen Jade North losing the plot, he needs to be judged on his mistake, play acting was his mistake. I think that sometimes players must get a brain fade, not sure what he was thinking when he threw himself down, then, the question needs to be if he was down, the first thing that needs to happen is that the ref needs to stop the game, even if the referee does not believe the player, the immediate reaction from the referee after he stops the play, needs to be checking the player that is down and if he is play acting, give him a red card, that would stop players like Brandan from Melbourne City, rolling over and over like if someone just shot him, it is not a good look and referees must stop this rubbish
Charrua2
Guest
No doubt, their crowds since they put together the most expensive outfit has been the same than whey they were just a rubble as Melbourne Heart. Prediction, in 2017, they may win everything and still attract 8000 to the gates, yep they are building all right
Charrua2
Guest
Can anybody say that Jakobsen's foul in the box against Broich was not a penalty? Clear penalty in my book So the bling, bling club is still struggling to attract crowds, they put together a group of stars from the A league with the view that by doing that they were going to blitz every other club, the fact is that slowly they are as vulnerable as any other club. City tried to buy the championship and they may still do it, but, the measure of a great club is not stealing all the good players from many A league clubs, you can take one or two but just to take all the good players from the A league and put them together is not going to attract crowds. Bringing Cahill after he is a washed out player is not a recipe to attract crowds, When you are full of bulltish, Aussies can see you a mile before you arrive and you City are still Melbourne Heart, a bulltish club, you can buy all the players you want, you can buy the FFA Mickey Mouse Cup, but, if you finish winning everything this year in the A league, we will see how far you can go after that, I can predict that by 2018 you City supporters still will be around 8000 per a game. You may as well bring the white and red shirts, you may be more succesful
Stevo
Roar Rookie
You must have missed Jade North collapsing to the ground faking a head clash to get win a free kick and stop our progress. The ref made a few baffling decisions. Like Broich rising well over the top of Muscat who was pretty much standing still and then gets awarded a free against him ??? One thing is correct as you say. The opposition are targeting El Tuna by ganging up on him and impeding his play at every opportunity. But he still shines brightly above many of the opposition numpties.
Charrua2
Guest
It is obvious that John Aloisi has found the key to hold Melbourne City . Any team that can stop the ball getting to Brattan and Fornaroli will find it easier to beat Melbourne City. Referees need to keep an eye on the DIVES from Brandan and at times Fornaroli and instead of paying for bogus fouls against them, give them both yellow card for faking injury. FFA should consider introducing a new rule and that is that when a player fakes and injury,. A player that rolls over 6 times, grabbing his legs like if he was shot should be either be given a yellow card or kept out for at least 10 minutes so he can recover.
Paul Nicholls
Roar Guru
Great game this one. The dust up between the coaches was fantastic - we need to see more of this. And wasn't that great seeing City score the goal after the play acting. Sweet justice. Players should always play on when there is an apparent injury - it's up to the ref to call a halt.
Stevo
Roar Rookie
3 games in a week with 2 wins and draw. I'll take that. Like how Muscat was feeling sorry for Jamie missing so many chances that he teed one up for him and said "hey son, see if you can put this one in from point blank range."
Nemesis
Guest
CCM & WSW much higher quality then both these teams tonight. Some keyboard experts have been speculating that City is building to be the most popular football club in Melbourne. One of the reasons I value the opinions of the keyboard experts on this forum.
pete4
Guest
Those seagulls are becoming so annoying!
Alan
Roar Guru
City and Brisbane each finish the match with a point. A fair result given the amount of chances both teams had. City looked like they had run out of fuel in the second half and Brisbane somehow failed to take the lead on numerous occasions. Bouzanis in particular produced a stunning save to deny McClaren from point blank range. City need to recover quickly because in six days, they visit league leaders Sydney FC. City 1 Roar 1
Alan
Roar Guru
FULLTIME City 1 Roar 1
Alan
Roar Guru
95' - City now close to within three points of Sydney but the Sky Blues have a game in hand against Newcastle tomorrow. It ways always going to be tough for City to secure the three points but there are still some major concerns with defence that they have to rectify. Brisbane opened them up big time, particularly in the second half. City 1 Roar 1
Alan
Roar Guru
93' - A fascinating contest drawing to a close. City have struggled at times to back up from Wednesday night. Petratos with a shot now and his effort wide. Another chance goes begging! City 1 Roar 1
Alan
Roar Guru
Five minutes of added time here... City 1 Roar 1
Alan
Roar Guru
I still feel that a late winner will be scored here...both teams fairly open on the counter. All set for late drama. City 1 Roar 1
Alan
Roar Guru
88' - Great ball from Fornaroli. All class there. Caceres with the header but the ball goes just wide of the left post! That was a chance for City to steal the game! City 1 Roar 1
Alan
Roar Guru
CHANCE ROAR Ball goes over the bar barely as City once again were opened outwide down the right. Nearly an own goal by City! City 1 Roar 1
Alan
Roar Guru
85' - Cahill is on for City. Bowles also on for the Roar. Can City end a great run on a high? Three points so vital to keep pace with Sydney heading into next week's crunch game against the Sky Blues City 1 Roar 1
Alan
Roar Guru
Timmy Cahill coming on! What a cameo this could be for City! 82' - Roar in possession. City win the ball back. Brandan with another great run. He loves to cut back inside the Argentine. City 1 Roar 1
Alan
Roar Guru
81' - We approach the championship rounds of what has been a great contest littered with chances, particularly in the second half. City 1 Roar 1