Bulls Fall to Roar in Stoppage Time

It was a sore way to finish for the Bulls, who refused to stay down on a competitive afternoon at Campbelltown Sports Stadium.

The sides went in goalless at the break, but Brisbane edged ahead early in the second half through Sabit Ngor in the 48th minute. Macarthur responded with plenty of fight, and Stamatelopoulos levelled in the 64th minute from a Musa Touré assist, before Vidić struck deep into stoppage time to deny the home faithful a point the Bulls had worked hard to earn.

The Bulls lined up at Campbelltown Sports Stadium in a 4-2-3-1 against Brisbane’s 3-5-2, with Liam Rose and Dylan Rose anchoring the middle of the park, and they began brightly. In the seventh minute Callum Talbot tried his luck with a right-footed shot from outside the box, but George Plusnin saved it in the top centre of the goal.

Nathan Paull sent a left-footed effort from more than 35 yards wide to the left in the 13th minute after a Liam Rose pass. Brisbane’s first real chance came in the 18th, when Justin Vidić’s right-footed shot from the right side of the box was saved in the centre of the goal by Alexander Robinson.

Macarthur grew into the contest. Musa Touré’s right-footed shot from the left side of the box was saved by Plusnin in the 31st minute, and he tried again in the 37th with a left-footed effort from outside the box, set up by Apostolos Stamatelopoulos, with the same result.

Brisbane’s discipline was tested in the closing stages of the half. Milorad Stajić went into the book for an argument in the 38th minute, and Hosine Bility replaced him two minutes later.

Five added minutes gave both sides one more look. Paull threw himself in the way to block Vidić’s shot from the left side of the box in the first minute of stoppage time, and Stamatelopoulos then headed a Luke Vickery cross from the centre of the box straight at Plusnin as the sides went in level at 0-0.

Brisbane made the early running after the restart. In the 48th minute Sabit Ngor took George Plusnin’s assist and sent a left-footed shot from the centre of the box into the high centre of the goal to make it 1-0 to the Roar. It was an early setback, but the Bulls had plenty of time to respond.

Sasa Ognenovski reacted in the 57th minute with a triple change, sending on Ben Gibson, Kai Kennedy and Ryan Fraser for Dean Bosnjak, Dylan Rose and Luke Vickery. Ngor was booked for a bad foul a minute later, and Alexander Robinson stood tall in the 61st minute to keep out Justin Vidić’s left-footed effort from very close range before Ngor fired wide moments later.

Then came the breakthrough. In the 64th minute Musa Touré’s header from the right side of the six yard box was blocked after a Callum Talbot delivery, and from the set-piece situation Touré teed up Apostolos Stamatelopoulos, whose right-footed shot from very close range found the bottom right corner to make it 1-1.

The Bulls kept coming. Touré had a left-footed shot from the centre of the box blocked in the 67th minute after Kennedy’s pass, and Brisbane responded with a double change in the 71st. Nathan Amanatidis was booked for a bad foul in the 81st, Kennedy sent a right-footed effort from outside the box just wide in the 82nd after Gibson’s assist, Brisbane made two more changes in the 83rd, and Touré went into the book in the 87th.

Five minutes of added time were announced, and Tatsuki Nara blocked an Amanatidis shot from outside the box early in it. But deep into stoppage time, in the 95th minute, Vidić struck a right-footed shot from the centre of the box into the bottom left corner after substitute Jordan Lauton’s pass, the goal awarded following a VAR review. Zane Helweh came on for Connor Pain in the 97th minute as Macarthur chased a reply, but the final whistle arrived with the Bulls beaten 2-1.

This one stings for the Bulls, who went down 2-1 to Brisbane Roar at Campbelltown Sports Stadium with the clock already past 90 minutes. The result did not reflect how hard Macarthur worked to get back into the contest, and the numbers back up the effort: the Bulls had the lion’s share of the ball with 52.4% possession, completed 413 of 508 passes, and put six shots on target to Brisbane’s four from nine attempts apiece. Brisbane were caught offside seven times to Macarthur’s three and finished with three bookings to the Bulls’ one.

There were genuine positives, too. Apostolos Stamatelopoulos’s equaliser was his first goal of the season, set up by Musa Touré’s first assist of the campaign, and the bench gave the Bulls fresh impetus after the break. History remains on Macarthur’s side in this fixture, with seven wins to Brisbane’s three and three draws before this match, and that never-say-die character, together with the control they held in the middle of the park, is what Sasa Ognenovski’s side will carry into the next match.

Match details

Next match

Next up, the Bulls travel to face ladder-leaders Wellington Phoenix at Hnry Stadium on Sunday 22 November, kick-off 3:00pm local time, looking to bounce back and keep themselves in the hunt for a top-six spot.