The Brisbane Roar have produced their best performance of the season to record a comfortable 4-0 win over the Melbourne Heart, who were forced to play out almost the entire second-half with 10 men.
In a match that saw the home-side record 13 shots on goals to the visitor's two, Brisbane were finally able to deliver on their goal-scoring potential, with their four in the game exceeding their return from the previous six combined.
On the back of strong midfield performances from Matt McKay and Massimo Murdocca, Brisbane were always in control with Reinaldo, Erik Paartalu and Mitch Nichols capitalising to score their first goals of the season, while Kosta Barbarouses grabbed his second of the campaign.
Brisbane's control on the match was established from the opening exchanges, but in the opening 20 minutes the determined Heart defence stood firm, defusing the Roar's attack with physicality and composure.
But after a beautiful build-up allowed recalled striker Barbarouses to open-scoring in the 24th minute, the home-side appeared to find another gear, opening up the Heart defence at will with accurate passing and clever movement off the ball.
Rather than scale down their attack on the back of their lead, the Roar forwards seemed spurred to greater heights, and the shots began to rain down on Heart keeper Clint Bolton.
Barbarouses had a pair of brilliant chances to double his tally, but was held out and by the scrambling goal line defence of the Roar.
The weight of pressure eventually led to a second goal for the home side in the 38th minute, when amidst another Brisbane attacking raid, Paartalu was able to deflect Matt Smith's volley past Bolton and into the net.
Brisbane carried their dominance through the interval and into the second-half, taking just three minutes to add to their lead - this time through Reinaldo, who after being brought down in the area by Dean Heffernan, converted the penalty.
The night continued to get worse for the Heart when Heffernan was giving his marching orders after receiving his second yellow card – this time for his part in a pre-corner scuffle with the penalty-scorer, Reinaldo.
With even numbers the Heart had looked a few players short of matching the Brisbane pace, and forced to play with 10 men from the 54th minute onwards, the Heart were helpless to defend against an outfit dripping with confidence.
Reinaldo and substitute Rocky Visconte were causing the visitors nightmares in defence, but through a combination of luck, desperation and skill from Bolton, the scores remained 3-0 right throughuntil the 76th minute, when Nichols was the recipient of another fluid build-up.
Brisbane's dominance carried right through to the final whistle, with Visconte, Nichols and McKay all making attempts at goal in the final ten.
Brisbane Roar 4
Melbourne Heart 0
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