Maccarone scores to boost Brisbane final hopes
Brisbane Roar triumphed by two goals to one against Melbourne Victory, with Massimo Maccarone grabbing a goal and an assist to send his side back into the A-League's top six.
Massimo Maccarone scored a goal and provided an assist as Brisbane Roar boosted their A-League finals hopes with a 2-1 win over Melbourne Victory at AAMI Park.
Veteran striker Maccarone drilled home a fine seventh-minute finish and set up Brett Holman before the half-hour mark, putting last week's penalty miss in the 2-1 loss to Melbourne City behind him and lifting the Roar up to sixth.
Brisbane took the lead when Leigh Broxham could only clear Fahid Ben Khalfallah's cross as far as Maccarone, who brought the ball down on his chest and picked out the bottom-right corner of Lawrence Thomas' goal.
The 38-year-old turned provider in the 28th minute, holding the ball up on the break before offloading for the overlapping Holman to cut onto his left foot and double the visitors' advantage.
Jamie Young produced a fine save to keep out Leroy George ahead of half-time but there was nothing he could do to keep James Troisi's sensational 25-yard strike out of the top-right corner seven minutes from time.
Victory, though, were unable to complete a comeback and fell to a third successive defeat.
Kevin Muscat's team are at risk of slipping 14 points adrift of the top two when Newcastle Jets return to action next week.
9 February 2018