Roar coach Frank Farina will have silenced some of his critics after goals from teenagers Michael Zullo and Robbie Kruse handed Queensland a deserved 2-1 win over the Wellington Phoenix in Brisbane.
The unheralded duo, thrown in by Farina for their first starts in Roar colours, capped fine individual performances with maiden goals apiece with Zullo, in particular, a constant thorn in Wellington's side.
The 18-year-old opened the scoring just four minutes into his full debut before supplying the cross for Kruse, who had also clipped the top of the crossbar with a 25m strike, to score his first league goal on his 19th birthday.
"We played extremely well and really at no time in the match were we under a great deal of pressure," Farina said afterwards.
"Opportune times to get goals I suppose … but I was pleased with the way we played."
The Phoenix was positive in possession with Shane Smeltz, Michael Ferrante and Felipe taking every opportunity to support Vaughan Coveny in attack but failed to create a meaningful chance before Smeltz scored a late consolation with the final kick of the game.
Coach Ricki Herbert said it was time his side stopped giving sides goal advantages having fallen behind in six of its seven outings this season.
"I think we were disappointing tonight really," Herbert said. "We didn't start the game well and I think for the first six games of the season we've been decent and we really didn't get cracking."
"The season can't be all about chasing games."
It was the exciting Zullo who bought a 12-458-strong crowd to life when he struck a sweet left-footed half-volley off the underside of the bar and past Phoenix goalkeeper Glen Moss after Wellington had failed to clear their lines from a long throw-in.
Already without Daniel, Wellington's hopes then nosedived when Felipe, the victim of a handful of crunching tackles one of which earned Marcinho a caution, was replaced by compatriot George Paladini after limping off with a hamstring strain.
Queensland then added to its lead in first-half stoppage time while the visitors were down to 10 men with defender Steven O'Dor receiving treatment for a bloodied nose on the sidelines.
Making the most of the space in the Phoenix backline, Zullo floated in a perfectly weighted cross and an unmarked Kruse headed home past Moss.
The Wellington custodian palmed Marcinho's goalbound effort around the post as Queensland continued to attack while Reinaldo would have hoped to have done better after Zullo skipped around Jeremy Christie and provided a delightful cutback, the Brazilian missing the target with an open goal beckoning.
Kruse and Zullo departed to standing ovations as Farina looked to secure his first home win of the season and only his second victory at Suncorp in eight attempts since replacing Miron Bleiberg.
The New Zealanders enjoyed their brightest spell of the game from that point on but it was too little too late when the hard-working former Brisbane Strikers forward Smeltz slid home via a deflection off Sasa Ognenovski deep into injury time.
Queensland Roar 2 (Zullo 4, Kruse 45)
Wellington Phoenix 1 (Smeltz 90)
12,458 at Suncorp Stadium