Brisbane have taken the three points late against a dour Wellington in a guest appearance at Robina Stadium to celebrate Australia Day with a 2-0 win.

The rescheduled match was played an hour south of the official home ground after the orginal date was, to put it lightly, rained out. Suncorp Stadium had water up to row five during the floods and if my sources are correct, suffered some severe damage to the electricals, not to mention the pitch.

That said, the Skilled Park turf was shocking. Patchy and terrible, as it has been for some time, clearly someone is not doing their job. As the roar fans chanted, “Our flooded pitch is better than this.”

The Roar lined up with Stefanutto as captain, with the regular club captain storming the Asian Cup. The game also marked the last appearance for young centre-half Luke DeVere who has accepted a lucrative contract with K-League side Gyeongnam FC, which has been meet with mixed feelings by coach and fans alike.

The Phoenix were also missing much of their creativity with Bertos, Ifill and Jade North missing and Rojas coming off the bench.

The game started off much as one would expect with the Roar maintaining possession and the Phoenix sitting back. Brisbane were looking for the through balls for Barbarouses and Solorzano behind the big Phoenix backs, with a few trickling through, but no clear cut chances falling.

Wellington however had the best chance of the half when in the build up, DeVere’s pass went wayward and was keenly intercepted by Muscat who dispatched the ball to Macallister who ran into the space that Devere had left. Closing in on goal, DeVere’s efforts to recover his mistake hindered his side when Macallisters turn caused him to take out is centre partner Matt Smith.

Macallister lined up his shot from the left edge of the box, but could only manage to fired it straight at Theoklitos who parried it out of harms way.

Brisbane were unperturbed by this counter and continued to play their patient football. Their best chance of the half fell when five minutes from the half Barbarouses unleashed a lovely square across the box, which Nichols was just able to get a foot to at the near post and knock towards a steaming Franjic.

Franjic managed to get his chest on it, which six yards could have been enough but Vukovic turned it past the post.

The first half was scrappy, but nothing compared to the second. Both teams played terribly for the next half hour, with Brisbane trying to play their game, but looking like a team that hadn’t played in three week, and Phoenix seeming happy to sit back for the nil all.

Substitutions were clearly needed, and first was Pavlovic for Wellington. His extra pressure on the build up at the back seemed to put the Phoenix on top, but the chances never really eventuated.

Next was Brisbane’s chance with a double substitution of Meyer and Henrique. Meyer scored in his debut last time the Roar were in action and Henrique has looked impressive since his return from a broken leg.

It didn’t seem to be the difference the game needed, with neither producing much spark, until the 82nd minute.

Meyer went on a run from midfield, straight into Nick Ward on the edge of the box. After a struggle with Ward he managed to get past him (kind of) and squeeze a nothing shot off. Unfortunately for Vukovic and Phoenix, the ball took a wicked deflection off Durante, leaving the ‘keeper rooted at the wrong side of the goal.

After the initial goal, Wellington pushed forward hard for the final ten, but Brisbane held on, and had plenty of chances forged by Broich on the counter. One such was a brilliantly timed run seen by Murdocca down the left wing. Broich had the pace late in the game to get into the box and close in on goal from a tight angle.

Broich tried his luck on the angle and beat the keeper only for the ball to kind of curl off the cross bar. Luckily Meyer was in their to clean up and get his third goal in two games.

The Two-Nil scoreline may have flattered the Roar side slightly, and Phoenix won’t think its justified by, but with so many absences it didn’t seem like they came to win, just sit back and take a point.