Melbourne Victory Youth have squandered an early lead to crash to Brisbane Roar 2-1 at Lakeside on Saturday.
The Navy Blues raced out of the blocks early through John Maclean, before Devante Clut equalised for Brisbane less than 15 minutes later.
Kofi Danning scored the winner in the 74th minute after a silky assist from Samual Sibatuara.
Spectators had barely taken their seats when Victory scored the first goal after 90 seconds, when a turnover in midfield saw Jordan O’Doherty tee up Maclean for an strong finish.
The hosts almost had another goal minutes later as Anthony Duzel played George Howard through on goal, but his strong effort was parried away.
Brisbane scored against the run of play in the 15th minute when Clut picked up a sqaring ball from Patrick Theodore’s overlap and scuffed his first shot, but Melbourne’s partial clearance landed back at his feet, and he made no mistake the second time around.
The home side thought they had the lead again after Cristaldo’s run down the left wing resulted in a saved shot, with Howard tapping in the rebound from close range, but the forward was flagged offside in controversial circumstances with two defenders on the goal line.
Brisbane then almost struck down the other end when Lawrence Thomas misjudged Clut’s bouncing effort, parrying a save into a dangerous area, but the ‘keeper recovered quickly to block Kofi Danning’s follow-up from point blank range.
From that moment Brisbane had all the ascendency, generating a number of-half chances that were desperately scrambled away by a now deeper-lying victory defence.
They should have gone into the break 2-1 down however, when Fraser Chalmers ran off his line and misjudged a bouncing ball, but an advancing Cristaldo missed an open net.
The second half was a much more subdued contest, with neither side able to create meaningful chances.
Cristaldo had an early scuffed effort saved, while both Corey Brown and Danning fired shots over Lawrence Thomas.
Danning eventually propelled the visitors into the lead in the 74th minute, receiving a fine cut-back from Sibatuara and finishing neatly into the bottom right corner.
That would be the final meaningful moment of the contest, as the Roar coasted to a 2-1 win.
Melbourne Victory Youth (Maclean 2’) defeated by Brisbane Roar Youth (Clut 15’, Danning 74′)
Melbourne Victory: 2 Damien Miskulin, 4 Thomas Deng, 6 Jordan O’Doherty, 7 Christphopher Cristaldo, 9 John Maclean, 10 Anthony Duzel (14 Lucas Derrick), 13 Brendan Gonano (8 Dion Paola 78′), 15 Jonathan Vakirtzis (18 Christian Cavallo 75′), 17 George Howard, Milos Ridesic, 20 Laurence Thomas (GK)
Unused Subs: 1 Lucas Spinella (GK),
Yellow Cards: Howard 22’, Maclean 25’
Red Cards: None
Brisbane Roar: 1 Fraser Chalmers (GK), 2 Jaiden Walker, 5 Corey Brown, 6 Devante Clut, 7 Benjamin Liftin (8 Logan Grillo 68′), 13 Mitchell Hore, 14 Shannon Brady (11 Samual Sibatuara 63′), 15 Lachlan Jackson, 16 Patrick Theodore (12 Nicholas D’agostino 75′), 18 Sandro Pasalic, 20 Kofi Danning
Unused Subs: 21 Tomislav Bilic (GK),
Yellow Cards: Brown 32’, Walker 71′, Pasalic 76′
Red Cards: None