The Roar led 1-0 after a tight first-half, but when the goalscorer Reinaldo was sent off at the beginning of the second half, his teammates found another level and poured in three quick goals to take the match away from the visitors.

The Roar were courageous in the top-of-the-table clash, and while Kosta Barbarouses was a stand-out with a double, it was an all-round effort that won the day.

Brisbane made a strong start to their third game in eight days, and less than two minutes, in star-import Thomas Broich had the first shot of the match, driving aggressively down the left-hand side and pulling the trigger from a tight angle.

The Roar were the holding the majority of the possession, but Adelaide were creating the better chances through the opening 20 minutes.

Brisbane skipper Matt McKay seemed determine to pull the match back into Brisbane's favour and within a ten minute period he had no less than four attempts at goal.

The midfield workhouse was causing problems on all fronts for the visitors, and his shots came from a probing run, a well-taken corner, a short pass from Reinaldo and then finally a perfectly weighted long-ball from Matt Smith.

Adelaide fought back hard, and the men in orange were forced to defend a pair of corners, but finally it was Brisbane with the opener in the 43rd minute.

Massimo Murdocca took off on another scything run through the middle when he spotted Reinaldo muscling up on Iain Fyfe, with his back to goal. The pass came through and the big forward held his man up until he was in a position to swivel on the ball, dragging it past Galekovic and into the net.

Reinaldo came out after the break hungry and with tighter control could have had his second when Broich played him through at the top of the area.

But Reinaldo's chance for further glory came to an abrupt end just minutes later. Breaking through on goal, he was brought down harshly without the ball by United defender Robert Cornthwaite.

Cornthwaite was cautioned, but, as he had been the last line of the defence, Reinaldo questioned whether it might have been a red. His line of enquiry wasn't well received by Matthew Breeze who showed him a yellow, his second for the game after he had earlier been cautioned for taking off his shirt.

Brisbane's redemption didn't take long. The free kick rebounded off the wall, but Brisbane fought hard for the scraps and when Paartalu regained it near to the baseline he whipped a cross in to the penalty spot where Matt Smith was on hand to slam it home.

Playing with 10-men, but clearly believing attack was the best form of defence, the Roar poured forward and the third came in the 62nd minute when substitute Mitch Nichols found Barbarouses clear on goal.

Brisbane were three goals to the good but far from done and when centre-back Luke De Vere went on a long run up the middle Barbarouses was on hand to take the square ball and hammer in a beautiful goal from well outside the area.

The Roar were unable to keep the intensity at quite the same level, but even playing on empty they were outworking the visitors and keeping Galekovic on his toes to the final whistle.

Brisbane Roar: 4 (Reinaldo 43', Smith 56', Barbarouses 62', 67')
Adelaide United: 0
Crowd: 13248 at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane