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A Jay O'Shea brace from the penalty spot has secured Brisbane a vital 3-0 win against recently crowned A-League premiers Melbourne City.
Brisbane have punished a post-party Melbourne City to defeat the newly crowned A-League premiers 3-0 and all but secure a finals place.
A double from the penalty spot by stand-in captain Jay O'Shea either side of a strike from impressive youngster Alex Parsons was enough for the Roar to secure a vital three points at Moreton Daily Stadium on Tuesday.
The win lifts Brisbane up to fourth on the ladder with three games to play, five points clear of seventh-placed Perth Glory in the race to the finals.
Perhaps understandably after securing the Premiers' Plate on the weekend against Central Coast, City were lacking in energy throughout, in what will be top scorer Jamie Maclaren's last appearance of a stellar campaign.
The forward was unable to add to his tally of 25 goals for the season and will miss Saturday's game with Newcastle due to his wedding, before linking up with the Socceroos squad in the Middle East for four World Cup qualifiers next month.
Midfielder Connor Metcalfe and defender Curtis Good will also be on international duties during the finals after their call-ups but there's no such worries for the Roar, who kept another clean sheet to extend their impressive defensive record.
City coach Patrick Kisnorbo refused to blame the result on any kind of come down from their success on the weekend, saying the game had given him plenty to ponder heading into finals.
"Our preparation was pretty much the same, even after Saturday, but I learnt a lot today," Kisnorbo said.
"So even though we lost, there's some things that I learned that we can improve and get better."
Roar coach Warren Moon was understanably thrilled with the outcome, especially after having to play without captain Tom Aldred, fellow English defender Macaulay Gillesphey or Japanese young gun Riku Danzaki.
"We had our own concerns going into the game tonight," Moon said.
"Our own players missing and we weren't sure what they were going to put out but in regards to the boys that did play and the performance tonight, we're really, really happy.
"It was excellent."
Moon's team took an early lead when Irish midfielder O'Shea made no mistake from the spot in the sixth minute after Parsons was felled in the box by Daniel Georgievski on the Macedonian's first start for City.
The Roar doubled their advantage late in the first half when 21-year-old Parsons was played clear by Jesse Daley and slammed home a finish at Matthew Sutton's near post in what was the City goalkeeper's first appearance of the season.
It capped a sensational 24 hours for Parsons after it was confirmed he'd signed a new deal with the Roar on Monday.
The Roar iced the win in the second half when Daley was tripped by Alec Mills inside the area and O'Shea stepped up to slot home the penalty and complete his first double in his 50th A-League appearance.
Brisbane face Western Sydney on Sunday and Moon was confident Aldred, Gillesphey and Danzaki will all make the trip to Bankwest Stadium.
