Bruce Kamau nets brace as Melbourne City down Brisbane Roar

Updated: May 17, 2023, 05:40 am

Bruce Kamau is mobbed by Melbourne City teammates after scoring.
Bruce Kamau is mobbed by Melbourne City teammates after scoring.
Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Bruce Kamau is mobbed by Melbourne City teammates after scoring.
Bruce Kamau is mobbed by Melbourne City teammates after scoring.
Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Bruce Kamau scored a double for Melbourne City in a winning start under new coach Warren Joyce with a 2-0 triumph over Brisbane Roar in the A-League season opener.

Kamau bagged a goal in each half to secure all three points for the hosts in an otherwise dour affair at AAMI Park.

He opened the scoring at the end of an opening period that proved not even a six-month offseason was enough for City and the Roar to blow out all their cobwebs.

Play was disjointed, movement static, touches heavy and passing awry.

Both teams had new strikers up front -- on-loan Aston Villa marksman Ross McCormack led City's attack, while it was Italian veteran Massimo Maccarone making his debut for the Roar.

Neither enjoyed the kind of service they would have been used to in Europe.

Brisbane were missing four likely starters -- Brett Holman, Thomas Kristensen, Corey Gamiero and French recruit Eric Bautheac, who was still waiting for his visa to be approved despite being signed a month ago.

The Roar's new-look attack failed to fire and they were outgunned in midfield but teenager Nick D'Agostino almost drew first blood in the 19th minute, hitting the post after a neat one-two with Fahid Ben Khalfallah.

Kamau was responsible for a couple of the more embarrassing early blunders, including one moment when he almost tripped over his own feet as he shaped to cross.

But by the time a cleared corner kick reached him at the top of the penalty box in the 45th minute, the frustrated crowd of 9,589 stopped groaning and urged him to shoot immediately.

The 22-year-old winger obliged and was rewarded with the first goal of the new season, his attempt sailing past a mass of bodies and into the bottom-right corner of the net.

The game soon opened up and Kamau had his brace in the 74th minute -- the result of a lovely passage of build-up play involving McCormack, who found his groove as the game wore on.

An injury replacement for the sidelined Bruno Fornaroli, McCormack sent the ball out wide to Nick Fitzgerald and Kamau guided his cross home via a deflection.