Melbourne City FC’s 10 game unbeaten run came to an end on Tuesday night as the Premiers went down 3-0 to Brisbane Roar on the road.
Starting XI
Patrick Kisnorbo made six changes to the side that defeated Central Coast on Saturday night with Matthew Sutton, Daniel Georgievski, Taras Gomulka, Ben Garuccio, Florin Berenguer and Naoki Tsubaki all making starts for the away side. For Sutton, this was to be his A League debut in his first season with Melbourne City, following on from a stint as back up at Melbourne Victory, whilst Georgievski made his first start for Melbourne following two substitute appearances over the past fortnight.
Tom Glover, Nuno Reis, Adrian Luna and Aiden O’Neill all dropped to the bench whilst skipper Scott Jamieson and the in-form Craig Noone were rested.
6️⃣ changes to the XI tonight after another short turnaround.
Coming in is Sutton, Georgievski, Gomulka, Garuccio, Berenguer and Tsubaki.
Craig Noone and Scott Jamieson have been rested, while Jamie Maclaren will take the armband. ©#CmonCity | #BRIvMCY | #ALeague pic.twitter.com/NVb4uxl5zK
— Melbourne City FC (@MelbourneCity) May 25, 2021
What happened?
City made a tidy start and Scott Galloway’s exquisite ball to Berenguer in the middle released Marco Tilio down the left flank. Tilio’s beautiful first touch saw him glide past the defender and it was a smart save from Roar keeper Jamie Young to deny City the opener.
At the other end however, it was the up-and-coming Roar youngster Alex Parsons who was able to draw the tackle from Georgievski and referee Alex King pointed to the spot. Jay O’Shea made no mistake with a thumping penalty to hand the home side the lead.
Melbourne embarked on a period of dominance following the goal but were unable to make Brisbane pay. Tsubaki went closest, finding the gap between Young’s legs only for the ball to flash past the far post.
City’s task was made twice as hard after 38 minutes when Parsons was able to turn scorer, firing home at the near post following a quick break.
Alec Mills and Nuno Reis replaced Curtis Good and Scott Galloway at the half as Kisnorbo continued to manage the squad, the City boys now playing in their sixth fixture in just 20 days.
Brisbane were to add another to their tally just 6 minutes into the half as Mills was adjudged to have fouled Parsons via a VAR referral and O’Shea was on hand to net a second spot kick.
Stefan Colakovski, Adrian Luna and Raphael Borges Rodrigues – in just his second senior appearance – were all to jump into the fray as the half petered out, with Cityfinally succumbing to a 3-0 defeat.
What’s happened?
The Premiers return to Melbourne on Saturday night with a final home game of the regular season against the Newcastle Jets at AAMI Park, kick off from 5.05pm. Come out and the see the Premiers in action, click here to get your tickets now!
