Brisbane Roar outclassed North Queensland Fury 2-0 with a Kosta Barbarouses double at Dairy Farmers Stadium on Saturday night.
Barbarouses opened the scoring in the sixth minute and doubled the lead in the 76th minute to keep the Roar on course for a maiden Hyundai A-League title.
Dyron Daal withdrew from the game hours before kick-off making it eight players out due to injury and the Fury were behind the eight-ball from the get-go.
Brisbane took an early lead with Thomas Broich delivering a perfectly weighted long-ball to Barbarouses which caught the defensive line out and left an advancing Justin Pasfield in no-mans' land.
Barbarouses took the ball in his stride and dribble around the helpless keeper to slot in the opening goal.
North Queensland butchered a chance when David Williams raced past defenders on the right wing but he refused to shoot, offloading to Ufuk Talay who also thought twice and passed to Jason Spagnuolo on the left.
Spagnuolo sent a cross into a packed box with the ball falling to Gareth Edds but his attempt was poor allowing Michael Theoklitos to punch the ball away.
The Roar found some space after the break with Broich and Jean Carlos Solorazano having cracks from outside the box with some finding the side of the net and others forcing diving saves from the goalkeeper.
Matt Mackay split two defenders with a precision through ball for Barbarouses who deftly threaded the ball through the legs of Pasfield to double the lead.
The Fury toiled hard to pull back a late goal and Williams almost replicated the opener from Barbarouses when he picked up a long ball and outpaced the central defender.
Williams then attempted to chip the ball over goalkeeper Theoklitos but his touch let him down and the ball went loose.