Resurgent Wanderers cut through beleaguered Brisbane 2-0 at Suncorp

Astronomically insignificant a marker though it may be, the new year nonetheless provides a nice, agreed-upon point where, en masse, the slate might be wiped clean.

Brisbane and Western Sydney hobbled through the dusky final furlong of 2017 and both have begun the new year with tight, determined victories, results that have firmed up their resolutions to make the latter portion of the 2017-18 season a happier and more successful period.

Of course, as is the case with all of us, resolutions are at their firmest in early January, but they can quickly turn translucent and jellied as the year goes on.

Two wins to start the year – ah, now that would really confirm the turning of a new leaf. And there was a win to consolidate this new trend available here on a pleasant Brisbane evening. 

The home team, a Roar side clad in maroon, made the better start, with Massimo Maccarone unusually active. He has scored well this season – seven goals so far – almost exclusively using his knack for arriving on his mark and on cue with minimal exertion. For a striker as experienced and, let’s say, distinguished as he is, leaning heavily on his instincts is probably a wise strategy. But here he was seen involving himself in the midfield play, popping up on the wing, even tracking back.

With half an hour gone Maccarone had more touches inside his own box than in the Wanderers penalty area, a sign as much of Brisbane’s admirable-but-impotent trying as it was an increased willingness to embrace the lactic acid on the part of the Italian.

It appeared as though Maccarone had been given a brief to stray into valuable areas between the lines, with Corey Gameiro acting as a focal point up front in his absence. An interesting and bold tactical flourish from John Aloisi. 

So with Brisbane hogging the ball and with a glint in their eye, they were socked, rocked and stunned by a counter-punch.

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The Wanderers, having been pinned back, lurched suddenly into the Brisbane half, and the ball was swooped over to the far post, with a stooping Brendan Santalab charging in to meet it. His header was parried back into the danger zone by Jamie Young, and Oriol Riera had simply to control and place the ball into an open goal.

To add injury to insult Brisbane’s Thomas Kristensen limped off as the Wanderers celebrated, apparently injured at some point in the build-up.

Not five minutes earlier Gameiro had been incorrectly flagged for offside when clean through. This was a cavalcade of misfortune traipsing through Suncorp, and every thudding footstep sent Aloisi spiralling further into a smouldering fury. 

Brisbane pressed on and re-assumed control of the match, keeping the ball, involving Maccarone in the deeper play and pressing – if not quite tearing through – for a goal. As the halftime break approached, Brisbane had held 67 per cent of possession. Generally speaking, it is highly unusual for a Josep Gombau team to relinquish the ball so deliberately, but then again they did that last weekend against Melbourne City and they won that game.

Gombau, known as a coach whose teams usually tend dutifully to an overarching possession-based philosophy, has recently spoken publicly about the need to win regardless of the manner of victory. A new vein of pragmatism discovered, perhaps, under this new, oppressive pressure?

Another huge spell of Roar possession was suddenly interrupted by another shard of Wanderers progress. The ball was worked from one side of the pitch to the other, ending up on the right. Kearyn Baccus, Riera and Chris Herd all exchanged passes, and the ball was worked to Mark Bridge in the middle of the box.

Drifting right, he controlled and shot sharply, and Young was beaten at his near post. Two goals, both against the run of play, and the Wanderers had a commanding lead.

Aloisi’s expression darkened. At halftime, his team had slapped in seven shots from outside the box to the Wanderers’ one. The visitors had somehow managed five shots from inside the box to Brisbane’s one. Maccarone’s withdrawn position had made the midfield play much more pleasing and fluent but it had blunted the team as a result.

Western Sydney, sensing a demoralised foe one blow from collapse, began the second half the brighter team, winning the 50-50 balls, snapping passes to feet, probing and prodding. The home side were no longer holding the ball; all their eagerness had curdled. Now Gombau’s team rolled through their familiar passing triangles, working the ball into one wing cul-de-sac and then back out again. 

Petros Skapetis was removed and Daniel Leck, the young striker, was brought on. Jack Hingert tested Vedran Janjetovic with a shot, but the examination was elementary. Gameiro offered a sterner test, volleying on the swivel, a wonderful shot that Janjetovic met with an equally wonderful flying save. These were only murmurs, palpitations, in what had become a flat-lining Roar performance.

As the match crept into the final half hour it seemed as though those two first-half concessions had landed fatal blows to the home team. Riera should have twice increased the lead, with his second chance in particular heading narrowly wide from a free kick. Maccarone then smashed a shot into Michael Thwaite’s legs, with the ball losing all momentum and bobbling tamely into Janjetovic’s arms; Brisbane fans need no reminding, considering their current injury record, that luck has rarely been their companion on this torrid trudge of a season. 

Connor O’Toole, struck with a flailing elbow, was left gushing blood and had to be removed. Aloisi’s men had shredded their chances now, and with 79 minutes gone Maccarone lashed out in frustration, driving a forearm into Brendan Santalab’s lip, leaving it pouring blood, an assault inflicted while the Wanderers striker was trying to position himself to challenge for a high ball in the box.

It seemed as though the Italian only had eyes – misted in red – and elbows for Santalab, but the video assistant referee for some reason decided not to review the incident, even though it appeared an obvious game-changing oversight; a clear red, in other words, and probably a penalty too. In the end not even a foul was called.

Western Sydney ran out 2-0 winners, but they might have scored more. A fifth home defeat of the season for Brisbane, then, and they will be concerned they could not back up last week’s win over Adelaide.

In repositioning his striker, Aloisi left deficiencies in other areas which Maccarone’s increased involvement could not mask. Clearly the Roar are in need of reinforcements. Wonderful, January is just the time to do that – except that the club have apparently indicated that they aren’t planning on making many signings during the transfer window.

Their injuries alone should argue compellingly against that in concert with this result.

As the new year hope fades, the hangover sets in; perhaps 2018 won’t be so great in Brisbane after all.