Last night was not only a memorable night for the Red and White, but it was a night of records and firsts.
Last night was not only a memorable night for the Red and White, but it was a record-breaking performance against the reigning champions Brisbane Roar.
It was also a night of firsts as Richard Garcia, Patrick Gerhardt and Josip Tadic all netted their first goals in front of the Heart faithful.
Slick, well-oiled and often sensational, Heart possessed a cutting edge and were ruthless in front of goal – two characteristics that had perhaps been lacking in the final third in its previous three matches.
Despite a number of absentees through injury and unavailability, including captain Fred, Heart were impressive across the park, with its defensive structure limiting Roar-s forward forays, while its forward movement was positive, its interchanges attractive and finishing clinical.
With the Heart-s biggest ever victory, a 4-0 win over Sydney FC on 29 December 2011 at Allianz Arena, in threat of being eclipsed – with the scoreline at 4-0 and the home side hungry for more – Heart settled for a 4-1 win when Roar pulled back a consolation in the closing stages.
However, that score-line was still Heart-s highest scoring victory on home soil, with the 4-1 win trumping its 3-0 victory over Newcastle Jets at AAMI Park on 12 November 2011, not in margin but in quantity.
It was also a night of firsts. Gerhardt found the net for his first A-League goal – at the right end – while Tadic scored his first at AAMI Park, and his second goal in as many matches, to the delight of the Yarraside faithful.
In fact Tadic was brilliant, helping create two goals and finished his penalty calmly from the spot and illustrated his potential from a central role.
Further positives were drawn from Garcia-s first goal for the Red and White, and the former Hull City man was as influential as he was dangerous.
Garcia not only found himself on the score sheet, but won the penalty and caused Brisbane all sorts of headaches, while substitute David Williams- finish summed up the Heart-s hunger on a perfect night.
Then there were the efforts to Dugandzic, Nick Kalmar, Jason Hoffman and Dylan Macallister – whose effort was tipped onto the crossbar – that illustrated the team-s attacking intent. The margin could have easily been more.
Even the dismal weather couldn’t spoil the night for just under 5500 fans who braved the conditions and were rewarded by a sensational performance.
“It was important for us to get back to winning ways,” Head Coach John Aloisi said post-match.
“It-s always nice to score goals and I think that-s what we had been lacking in the last few games is that we probably weren-t taking our chances when we had them and tonight we did and it made a big difference.”
“There were periods there where they were controlling the game and we were finding it hard to get control of the ball, but it was a good win for us.”
“We said it wasn-t ‘do or die- and I stand by that.
“We weren-t far off getting a good result. I thought we were playing some decent stuff and we weren-t really conceding a lot of chances against as.
“We were unlucky not to get something out of last week and against the Mariners, it just gets us back to winning ways.”
