Brisbane Roar have lost their tight grip on the annual Translink Cup, losing 3-0 to Scottish giants Celtic in an entertaining match at Suncorp Stadium this afternoon.
A first-half double from New Zealand striker Chris Killen and a second half header from Koki Mizuno sealed the win for the Scottish Premier League club, who proved too clinical for the hosts.
Brisbane came out for the match in a defiant mood and gave their illustrious opponents a scare just two minutes in when Mitch Nichols led a counter attack and laid off to Robbie Kruse, but Artur Boruc was down quickly to save.
Two minutes later the Celtic ‘keeper was again called into action, denying Sergio van Dijk’s powerful drive from a tight angle with an acrobatic save.
Kruse had another great chance on 10 minutes, when he intercepted a wayward pass out of defence from Glenn Loovens, beat his man and hit a left footed shot which Boruc smartly saved.
Celtic began to work their way back into the match and tested Liam Reddy’s ability, first with Paddy McCourt’s low shot at the near post, before Shaun Maloney was denied from close range.
Six minutes before the interval the visitors found the breakthrough, when Lee Naylor curled in a cross from the left for Killen to power home a header from close range.
Three minutes later Killen had his and Celtic’s second when he played a neat wall pass with Maloney and finished neatly.
Luke DeVere did his best to claw a goal back on the half-time whistle with a charging run forwards and a shot which had Boruc scrambling to palm away from danger.
Celtic introduced Mizuno at the interval and the Japanese international made his mark after just five minutes, converting Andreas Hinkel’s cross with a diving header to make the score 3-0.
Mizuno then tried to tee up Scott McDonald with a clever through ball, but the Socceroos striker powered his shot straight at Reddy. A late charge from the Roar drew a number of chances, with substitute Tim Smits at the centre of the attack.
The striker found himself in the area on 87 minutes and squared up DeVere, but a desperate block saw the ball deflect out for a corner.
On 89 minutes a corner found its way to Smits on the right-hand corner of the area and he returned a fierce left-footed drive towards goal, but the ball was well held by substitute goalkeeper Lukasz Zaluska.
Frank Farina was satisfied with the hit-out, but pinpointed some areas which would need to be ironed out before the season opener against the Gold Coast next month.
“For us, a lot of positives came out of it,” the Roar coach said.
“I’m disappointed we lost the game, but I thought we were our own worst enemies in the first half.
“We started very well, most probably could’ve been 2-0 up but then I thought the last 25, although we didn’t play poorly, the turnover in possession was just terrible and that’s what killed us.
“We were giving a team like Celtic good possession of the ball just on halfway and good teams will punish you, as they did.”
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