VICTORY DEFEAT ROAR 5-1 AT FFA CUP

Brisbane Roar continued their poor run at the FFA Cup as they were thrashed 5-1 by Melbourne Victory at the meeting at Perry Park.

The Victory squad were near full capacity and it showed as they humbled their rival on Wednesday.

The loss is another for Roar as they are embarrassed at the FFA Cup. This means that they have gone past the Round of 32 just once in the last four years. On the other hand, Victory won the title in 2015 and have provided decent returns over the same period. In fact, the showing that night hints of another deep run at the Cup this year.

Mitch Austin and James Troisi scored in the first half to hand Victory the edge going into the short break. They started early upon return, sealing off the contest after only five minutes. BesartBerisha and Mark Mulligan converted their penalty kicks in quick succession to see the game almost end as the competitiveness died.

Troisi and Berisha combined to get the fifth before the 75th minute mark. Carrying on for the last 15 minutes was difficult but both teams continued. At stoppage time, new addition Peter Skapetisscored the consolation from a distance to make it 5-1. You could have got odds of 100-1 on that scoreline if you’d used a nordicbet bonuskode on it, though few could have predited such as one-sided outcome.

“We knew we were looking reasonably sharp but you only find out when you play A-League teams and I thought we were good value for that tonight on a very difficult surface,” a satisfied manager Kevin Muscat said after the game. Muscat added that such performances were expected only against NPL sides and not against fellow top tier teams.

Roar still have enough time to get their bearings right ahead of the start of the A-League season in two months. When key players return to the team, they should post a better performance.