Victory, Roar produce thrilling draw

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Thriller ... Victory and Roar players compete for the ball. Source: Salpigtidis George / AAP

A former hero at one A-League club thwarts his old side as Melbourne Victory draw 1-1 with Brisbane Roar - but it wasn't Ange Postecoglou.

Roar goalkeeper Michael Theo, a two-time championship winner at Melbourne Victory before joining Brisbane, steals the show producing several important saves.

Victory coach Postecoglou's hopes of securing a win over his former club were scuttled virtually single-handedly by Theo in a superb goalkeeping performance.

		P	W	D	L	GD	Pts
1	Central Coast	11	8	2	1	13	26
2	Adelaide	10	7	1	2	8	22
3	Victory	11	5	2	4	-3	17
4	Western Sydney	11	5	1	5	0	16
5	Perth	11	4	2	5	2	14
6	Newcastle	11	4	1	6	-8	13
7	Wellington	10	3	3	4	1	12
8	Heart	11	3	3	5	-2	12
9	Brisbane	11	3	2	6	0	11
10	Sydney	11	3	1	7	-11	10

Two important stops from Marco Rojas shots in the first half were followed by a world-class save in the 74th minute to deny Gui Finkler - and what would have been a win for the Victory.

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The Victory totally controlled the opening 20 minutes, with Rojas running amok and the Roar looking clueless.

But the Victory's wobbly defence - their problem all season - found a new and inventive way to leak goals against the run of play after 24 minutes.

Fullback Diogo Ferreira's fresh air swing at a ball across goal gave Roar striker Ben Halloran a half-chance, and he punished the Victory with a superb finish that had evaded them to that point.

The Roar controlled the remainder of the first half and maintained their 1-0 lead to halftime, before the home side equalised four minutes after the break.

Midfielder Mark Milligan's thunderous shot from the edge of the 18-yard-box from a Finkler pass levelled the scores and again changed the momentum of the game.

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The Victory had the best chance to win it, but after Finkler brilliantly turned a defender in the box, he was denied by Theo's remarkable one-handed save from point-blank range.

Theo stood up again to block Archie Thompson's shot just minutes later, and ensure the Roar a share of the points as their defence held firm under a late match onslaught. 

The Roar's night was soured with injuries to star striker Besart Berisha and midfielder Mitch Nichols - Berisha's shoulder looking particularly concerning.

The Albanian landed awkwardly in a second-half tangle with Victory centre-back Adrian Leijer, and Roar coach Rado Vidosic said the injury "doesn't look good''.

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Berisha is likely to have scans when the team arrive back in Queensland.

Postecoglou said he wasn't dwelling on what were perhaps two points dropped, rather the quality of football his side played for most of the match.

"Our football was great. I thought in general terms it was a step forward for us, which was important,'' Postecoglou said.

''(The goal) was an individual mistake. It didn't come from structure, it was one of those things that can happen on the football field to anyone.

"The first half-hour was as good as we've played all year.

"The real goal for us is to continue to develop our football so that when it does all click and it gets to the business end of the year and we're amongst it, we're playing some good football.''

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