Brisbane Roar have maintained second spot on the A-League ladder with a comfortable 2-0 win over Central Coast at Suncorp Stadium on Wednesday night.
Backing up from a dominant performance in drawing with Newcastle on Saturday, the Roar still looked the fresher, faster side, and in the end were unlucky to finish with Thomas Broich and Ivan Franjic as their only goal scorers.
The first half was a familiar story for Brisbane at home this season - total domination on every front, bar the scoreboard.
With the exception of Broich's sensational goal in the 21st minute – a beautifully directed shot from the left hand edge of the area - the Roar were butchering beautiful build-up play with miss after miss.
Skipper Matt McKay couldn't be blamed for his efforts, hitting the post with a beautifully curled left-footer and going within inches of scoring with a header on the run from a Franjic cross.
But the chief culprit was undoubtedly Reinaldo. After scoring three goals in his previous three matches, the big forward's touch seemed to have deserted him, and in the 42nd minute he somehow managed to miss an open goal after Mariners keeper Matthew Ryan had fumbled the ball onto his feet.
Brisbane were quick off the mark in the second half and after Reinaldo bombed yet another chance to put his name on the score sheet it was an unlikely goal-scorer in Franjic who had the break-through in the 61st minute.
With Brisbane threatening goal once again, the Mariners cleared the ball from the area, only for Franjic to steam on to it and unleash a fearsome drive that scythed through the crowded 18-yard box and into the back of the net.
Broich had already entered a strong candidate for goal of the round earlier in the night, and with the defining second goal Brisbane launched into a candidate for celebration of the year, with Murdocca using the corner post to 'paddle' a kayak made of three team-mates up the sideline.
Playing with a two-goal lead, Brisbane could have been forgiven for taking the foot off the gas in order to conserve ahead of their third game in eight days this Saturday, but there was still time for Broich to take a couple more shots on goal, and for substitutes Jean Carlos Solorzano and Mitch Nichols to show some class in attack.
Brisbane Roar 2 (Broich 21, Franjic 61)
Central Coast Mariners 0
Crowd: 5051 @ Suncorp Stadium