First 10/15 minutes we played some fantastic attacking football - earned the first goal on 5 minutes and could have had another either side of that with better execution.
If you'd walked out of Suncorp at that point you would have had a good night as a Roar supporter and be assured that we were contenders this season.
Then we had the next 70+ minutes of aimless, pointless play by us.
We had no composure or intent for most of the rest of the game and just kept bombing the ball long - often to no-one at all. We gave the ball away constantly and set ourselves up for some punishment all too often.
Victory were gifted so much time and space to construct something and we were bloody lucky that they lacked clinical finish most times.
Our defence works hard and our goal is still hard to penetrate but last night that was down to a poor Victory as much as our resilience.
The 'red card that might have been' for the Roar when he left the ground, studs forward and came down in the vicinity of the opposition players leg looked bad at the ground but some of the replays looked like his studs did not actually make contact until the ankle. I was certain it would go to VAR and end up poorly for us but I'll take it as a lucky football result and consider that maybe the contact was lower than the knee/shin.
I really hope it was the dirt pitch and the humidity that had us playing like we did. It was uninspiring to see Bouzanis kick the ball magnificently 3/4 the length of the pitch time and again to either completely unpatrolled sections of the ground for us or straight out. He made up for it with some equally magnificent saves I have to say.
The timewasting started from about the 15 minute mark and it continued all game.
I hate to see it. It is part of the dark arts to milk as much time as you can while making it look like you are trying. It is lazy and enabled bullshit to see the walking, lying down, knocking the ball away from your own player crap that we used to waste some 15-20 minutes of game time at least. The officials have it in their kit bag to stamp it out - some don't bother and it produces sour tasting games for one or both teams when it is permitted.
Aside from moments of inspiration and joy throughout the game by all our players - giving us those little buzzes of optimism when we finally kept the ball and headed forwards, it wasn't until Hore came on late that we started playing football again. I cannot rate him highly enough. His composure, vision, intent and impact were quite extraordinary in a game we were crying out for more in.
Whenever the ball went near him we settled and looked capable. If he gets his chances and stays fit this could be his best year with us in terms of his individual skill and quality, and the effect it has on the team.
Valkanis started with the same side as last game, and Ruhs and Vidic both worked their arses off looking to get in behind and score. To maintain the full effort that both put in running in last night's conditions is not a slight on them at all. Just the playing style of the whole team that deprived everyone of the chance to build and sustain pressure and break through.
McGarry was great again and I like Salas a lot. Both bring the ball forward when they get the chance and both shutdown most of the danger that comes their way. One moment when McGarry went haring back to close down a weakness appearing in the midfield he had dirt flying off his boots like a racehorse and flew past his opponent to plug the hole at DM. Small moments, but you've got to love seeing players display their wares in the best light.
A nod to Bouzanis already above, but a couple of his saves genuinely saved us. He got where he needed to be and his reflexes, body positioning and athleticism stopped Victory from making it a fair game. With the possession we were giving them an equaliser would have had us on the back foot and struggling based on our stuttering attempts to play.
Victory are far from ineffective but they are largely toothless at the critical moments. Reec has always been a doubtful bench player with moments of something but too inconsistent to have him as a starter. Injuries and whatever else making him the first choice up front prevents Victory from being anything more at the moment.
The ability and skill to pass between players and create space and opportunity is there to see. We chased shadows at times trying to restrict the area with the ball and we couldn't shut it down - with two and three player combinations cutting through us frequently out wide. We are no slouches in defence so credit to Victory for that.
And then, after being frustrated to hell with our time wasting and nonsense, we had the ending.
I have said it before and I will say it again - Genreau has a history of dirty play and we saw it unleashed in stupidity last night. Normally he applies much more cunning with his nastiness and sometimes even gets a freekick for it - but he let his devil out last night and his team will suffer for it.
It felt fantastic to grind out the win and it meant so much to the players. Stajic was pumped like nothing else and I love to see and feel that excitement with the win from him. The shirt means something to these guys.
Temporarily second in the table after 6 games says something about us this season. I shudder to think that we are going to see this pattern of play all season - full effort to get a goal then boot it long, waste time, and hang on for whatever time is left. It still feels better than battling for the spoon from the get go.
We now have 4 away games (that was our last home game for the year) and are back at Suncorp 3 January. Let's hope the grass has grown through the dirt by then.