A stoppage time Dylan Wenzel-Halls stunner sealed the Brisbane Roar’s first win since November as they shocked Sydney FC 2-1 at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night.
Brisbane came into the match having not won in 12 games and fresh off coughing up a 3-0 lead on the road to Adelaide United.
Sydney FC on the other hand were coming off a scrappy win over Melbourne City as they looked to climb back into the top two with a victory over their struggling opponents.
The Roar, who were without suspended goal-keeper Jamie Young and defenders Dane Ingham and Daniel Bowles, were stretched defensively from the onset and their issues were exacerbated when both Jack Hingert and Luke DeVere were forced off early with injuries.
Interim manager, Darren Davies turned to untried schoolboy Izaack Powell who turns 17 on Tuesday and as a result became the youngest player to pull on the Brisbane Roar guernsey.
The Sky Blues were all over Brisbane in the opening half albeit new signing Reza Ghoochannejhad, Milos Ninkovic and Adam Le Fondre were unable to take their first half opportunities.
Young-gun Daniel De Silva had an attempt strike the woodwork by but would not be denied again, pouncing on the rebound following a save from Roar keeper Brandon White to open the scoring.
Brisbane, to their credit, kept fighting and found themselves back on level terms when Adam Taggart found Danish midfielder Tobias Mikkelsen in space to slam home his second of the season with only 13 minutes to play.
There would be drama as the Roar pushed for a winner and were rewarded when Wenzel-Halls got on the end of a poor Sydney clearance to slam the ball into the top-corner and end the Roar’s barren run in the process.
The win for Brisbane puts them into eighth as they leap-frog Western Sydney Wanderers for the time being as they look to end their season with a bang.
Sydney on the other end will be wondering where it all went wrong as they will remain in third for the time being, where they will nervously await the result between the Melbourne Victory and Perth Glory on Sunday who both sit first and second respectively.
The Roar will look to continue their momentum when they travel to Perth to face the Glory next Saturday night while Sydney will host the Central Coast Mariners on Sunday.
