Melbourne City have ended an eight-month drought for a home A-League win, beating Brisbane Roar through an Aaron Mooy penalty.

After being thumped by Wellington Phoenix last round, Sunday’s 1-0 win puts Melbourne City in the top six and ends Brisbane Roar’s mini revival under new coach Frans Thijssen.

Daniel Bowles’s feather-light challenge on Mate Dugandzic earned a penalty for City in the 48th minute and it was expertly dispatched by Mooy for his first goal for the club.

City must wish they can play Brisbane every week – both their victories this season have come against the champions.

This was a victory masterminded from the bench, with coach John van ‘t Schip re-crafting his side successfully.

Van ‘t Schip made five changes to the team that was belted 5-1 by the Phoenix, shifting some of his most experienced players to the bench.

Striker David Williams made way for James Brown, while four of City’s back five were call ups.

Andrew Redmayne, Robbie Wielaert, Ross Archibald and Iain Ramsay were binned, with Tando Velaphi, Connor Chapman, Jason Hoffman and Ben Garuccio given the task of shoring up City’s leaky defence.

After conceding 11 goals in 200 minutes of football, changes were warranted – and they proved successful.

City were resolute and well structured in defence, with Brisbane kept to just a handful of chances despite winning the majority of possession.

Matt McKay had Brisbane’s best two opportunities of the first half, shooting wide and onto the bar from two cut backs five minutes apart.

While the patch-up job in defence worked, City did not offer much themselves.

Erik Paartalu’s back-post header on 32 minutes was their best chance but their lacklustre contribution was forgotten after half-time.

The goal put City on the front foot, though no one was able to put the game out of reach.

Half-time substitute Williams shot well wide from a fine Dugandzic run, with Jacob Melling wasteful shortly after.

With midfield maestro Luke Brattan taken off injured, Roar showed a lack of urgency as the match petered out.

Round 9 match results:

Perth Glory 2-1 Sydney FC
Melbourne Victory 3-0 Central Coast Mariners
Wellington Phoenix 3-1 Newcastle Jets
Adelaide United 2-0 Western Sydney Wanderers
Melbourne City 1-0 Brisbane Roar

Source: AAP