Adelaide United are the A-League premiers with Melbourne Victory and goalkeeper Lawrence Thomas denying Brisbane's ambitions in a steely stalemate at AAMI Park.
Against
a weakened Victory outfit, Brisbane needed a win to sit on top of the
ladder at the close of the season but came up short against an
inspired home side.
Thomas
made an incredible reaction save to deny James Donachie in injury
time, after superb efforts to deny Jamie Maclaren and super-sub
Henrique earlier.
The
result confirms Adelaide's astonishing transformation from zeroes to
heroes, jumping off the bottom of the table after eight winless weeks
to start the season.
On
Saturday night, they watched and waited from Adelaide, needing the
Roar to slip up against Victory.
Their
arch-rivals duly delivered as Brisbane botched their chance to win
the premiership in John Aloisi's first season in charge, handing the
Reds a first premiership in a decade.
"We
did more than enough to win it. We created a lot of opportunities ...
we found Lawrence Thomas in top form," Aloisi said.
"We
were in a good position to win it tonight but I can't fault the
players.
"It
wasn't meant to be. I have to congratulate Adelaide United."
Victory
courted controversy by resting a spate of senior players, making
seven changes from their last A-League outing, as they managed
personnel from their Asian Champions League campaign.
Pre-match
predictions of one-way traffic looked set to be fulfilled when Tommy
Oar curled a perfect cross to an unmarked Matt McKay after three
minutes.
But
the Roar skipper fluffed the tap-in and so began a wretched night for
Aloisi's men.
Brisbane
did the lion's share of attacking but, time and again, the
inexperienced Victory side stymied the premiership chasers.
Kevin
Muscat hailed his team, saying their recent few performances would
catapult them into the finals in top nick.
"It's
amazing what the mind can do if you believe in yourself," he
said.
"With
a back four, with an average age of 20 years old, to come up against
a good attacking Brisbane team, they handled themselves superbly."
Brisbane
could yet suffer further for their slip-up.
Should
Western Sydney triumph on Sunday, Brisbane will slip to third place,
miss a crucial week off in the finals campaign and welcome Victory to
Suncorp Stadium for an elimination final.
The
match was also Gui Finkler's last home appearance for Victory, having
agreed on a move next season to Wellington.
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