R21 vs Brisbane Roar | Sat 25th Feb | 7:35pm

was there a game on, best match day thread ever no angst. a win in brisbane.

maybe the website could go down every match day if this is the result.

That was much better football nice direct passing and two solid goals. Very pleased with the result. Very impressed with the Ridenton performance, all this stupid trickery by Roly and Finkler is nonsense, and plays right back if needed. Now the team have to repeat that.

Re Ridenton

didnt watch him that intently; however Brisbane's late improvement was surely down in part at least to returning Matt McKay to the middle where there is a minimum of fancy stuff and where he gets in the right places and does the simple things very well.

I was also very impressed with ARod last night.

Ridenton and Lia did very well

Thought we would struggle with the Rossi problem

Parkhouse not a LB but nice cross eh

Think we played the Roar on the right week on the right pitch.

1. Our midfield was excellent last night. No Roly slowing down the play with lots of touches. Lia, ARod and Ridenton moved it quickly and controlled the middle for long periods.

2. Smeltzy was amazing. His total work ethic, holding ball up, superb header, 93 min performance.

3. Both full backs played with confidence getting forward. Parkhouse not so strong defensively as Tratt.
4. Dura great leadership, and Fox disciplined for once.

5. Mossy did well as (almost) always.

6. I hope the three suspended players struggle to get their places back.

7. Am now keen to go to Auckland next weekend. Yay!

Roar were tired but that was a pretty awesome effort. Fox and Parkhouse really stood up and A-Rod was great as well. Smeltz should have finished them off earlier but still good to see him scoring again. I swear the only time the whole game they backed off brisbane scored which was annoying but pleasing at the same.

Fudgeing stadium made us put our shirts back on and biffed a guy who didn't. Pathetic.

we play third placed perth on saturday so who knows which phoenix team will turn up. 

Awesome team performance, good game to watch.  Love it when we win.

Shame on suncorp for evicting fans.

Roly was signing autographs for kids after the game with the other players. (didnt see the other two, though)

lowry came out after getting changed, 

Any comment to make on his performance last night?

Let me note that the Nix have never been beaten in that horrible city which is to blame for all NZ's problems.

Let's hope that record continues then.

Yea security were a bit shark. The only thing i can think of is they found shirts off offensive material lol. Fudgeing good night out though

So either the travelling Fever were very ugly or they had pictures of John Aloisi sucking a dick drawn on their chests?

Anyway, I am increasingly of the opinion that Roly is dragging this team down even worse than KFC Carlos did and I'll be happy to see him become someone else's problem. Lovely to see Dylan Fox stepping into Rossi's shoes, if we can keep him maybe we have Dura's understudy ready. How horrible was that card on Tratt late in the game - even Ned Zelic thought it was an outrage.

What really struck me was the stat that we have the worst completed-passes figure in the league. WTF is even up with that. You can't play the game we've been training for if passes don't stick.

And that Aussie is a country that gets off on scantily swim wear dressed ladies. Typical double standards as per normal Aussie.

Well done, 'Nix. That last chance, the missed one where Krishna backheeled to Smeltz, reminded me of the Brazil of old. Careca into the path of Edinho, (v Poland at Mexico '86) or something like that. So the stage is a bit different but the point is it was bloody exciting to watch.

So we're back on the road for our crucial game next week? I don't get all this moving around NZ. If ever there was a decent crowd in Wellington it would be next week v Perth.

Was at a concert so didn't see it. Going to watch the full replay and will eat my words if needed!

If he magically turned into a full-back overnight then good stuff.

Anyway, good game, some nice counter attacks and some decent build up play. Amazing how much slicker the passing was. Parkhouse looked a bit shaky on defence but that was a decent cross (helped by terrible marking on Smeltz from Brisbane). Kosta and Krishna combined nicely for the second. Lia was great. Thought we were fudged when Rossi went off but Fox did well. Ridenton is a better midfielder than he is a FB, glad he got a chance in that role.

Brisbane missed chances and will be disappointed but that was still infinitely better than last week. More please.

Fark we are so fudgeing sharke! cant believe we put up with this shark every week!

Sack BuckAcre!

The boys looked up for this game which was nice to see. It was nail-biting stuff to see us defend for the last 10 minutes or so. See you all in Auckland next week :) Hopefully the lads continue to look like they care! 

WE'RE WORSE THAN THE KNIGHTS AND THE SUNWOLVES PUT TOGETHER

I would say he played like a C+, maybe B- fullback last night.

Parkhouse was far from our worst last night.

Great finish for the first goal, great patience for that second goal, brilliant stuff.

Watched the replay and while we certainly played better than last week, the Roar looked exhausted. First 20 minutes was absolutely horrid from both teams.

Still, any improvement from us is welcomed, so lets hope we can continue with it.

I'm hoping Ridenton gets a run in the team and we can actually see what he can do. Didn't really stand out in this game, but wasn't expected to.

Parkhouse wasn't bad, certainly not our worst like said above, so happy to be proved wrong if he continues in the same vein. 

Edit, had a momentary brain fade and thought we were at home.

I don't think anyone "was our worst" last night. Great team effort.

Lets be honest the game was poor the Roar below average and the Phoenix average but a wins a win and if the goal now is just to make the top six, its a great 3 points' but god it was poor  the later two games way way better.The Phoenix just don't have any structure and are relying solely on Krishna.The players put in a lot of effort but thats no going to win games week in week out against good teams no below average one's like the Roar were last night

Well, we could nitpick people like Kosta at times, but agreed. All our players did their job. It got stressful near the end there, but a pretty solid performance. It was a tired Brisbane and we made the most of it!

The tired team were also at home and in their weather conditions! I think that balances it out easily. We were the better team.

Rossi! For not stretching his hammy properly.

True, although we may now be revising some of their statuses!

lia and rodrigues improved enormously. Amazing what can happen when your crosses give your strikers a chance. Is Watson really on verge of national call up?

Kyle is right.  A win is a win, we've only been able to enjoy 6 of them so don't put a dampener on this one.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/a-league/89817215/wellington-phoenix-fans-booted-from-suncorp-stadium-after-taking-shirts-off-in-traditional-celebration