The Brisbane Strikers' unbeaten Premier League run came to a juddering halt in ignominious fashion last night when they were beaten 1-0 in front of their own supporters by an unfancied but pumped-up Eastern Suburbs side.

The taste of defeat for the first time this season must have been unpalatable enough for the Strikers, but it must have been made all the more so by the fact that the goal that brought them undone was scored by Paul Brownlie, who was a Strikers player in the pre-season before leaving to try his luck with Easts.

Apart from Brownlie's goal, there were few plainly visible reasons for the home side's demise in a game they were expected to win quite comfortably. Neither side dominated for long periods, and clear chances to score were not in abundance in a match which never rose to any great heights.

Most probably the reasons for the result lay mostly between the ears of the players of both sides, and a clue was to be found in the way that the visitors started each half - this being at a pace and intensity that was not matched by the Strikers. It was a case of the underdogs wanting the win far more than the home side, and setting about the task with an impressive level of physical commitment. While Eastern Suburbs got 'stuck in' with gusto, many in Strikers shirts often seemed to be going through the motions.

For the first time this season the Strikers were faced with a side that appeared to line up with a similar formation - three at the back, five in the midfield and two up front. And from the opening whistle it was apparent that the visitors, who have plenty of big men, were determined to fight it out in midfield and use their size up front to advantage. Brownlie and Michael Brockwell - both very muscular and physical strikers - threw themselves about over the first twenty minutes or so and caused plenty of problems for the Strikers' back three of Matt Bell, Adam Webber and Daniel Leach. And they were well supported by Joachim Klein and Luke Martin who regularly broke forward from midfield and got into threatening positions.

Klein and Brockwell opened hostilities with the first shots at Antony Hall's goal inside the first ten minutes, and their efforts were followed by a free header from a corner kick by Easts' big centre-back John Carroll, who failed to hit the target in the fifteenth minute.

It took the Strikers eighteen minutes to mount their first serious raid on the Easts goal, as they struggled to come to terms with the physicality of the early Easts assault. Even then, goalkeeper Jason Parks was untroubled to get down to a mis-hit shot from Greg Di Losa who had managed to wriggle free just inside the visitors' penalty area.

A minute later, though, Di Losa almost opened the scoring after Eli Gilfedder, gaining his first action in the senior team this season, went on a long run down the left wing before delivering an accurate cross to Di Losa's head. The tall striker jumped well and made good contact, only to see his header fly a foot wide of the Parks' far post.

As the half wore on the Strikers slowly gained some ascendancy in the middle of the park, with young Matt Hornby and Gilfedder, in particular, producing some lively running and good passing, and Damien Waugh directing traffic in his trademark unhurried style.

In the thirty-third minute the home side almost hit the front in unlikely fashion when Michael Butters was played into space down the right wing and his intended high cross hit Parks' crossbar before bouncing back into play. The rebound was tucked away by the home side but the goal was disallowed for a shove on parks.

A minute later, Di Losa's forward partner, Russell Woodruffe, was replaced by Ross Duncan after picking up what appeared to be an injury to his thigh. The very next minute, though, Di Losa was presented with perhaps the best chance of the half when Hornby, defending around his penalty area, came up with a tremendous tackle to dispossess an Easts attacker and the vision to spot a run from Di Losa near the half way line. Hornby's pass, delivered almost in the same movement as that in which he climbed to his feet after making the tackle, was delivered perfectly into the path of Di Losa who outpaced his defender and closed in on the Eastern Suburbs goal. Parks, though, advanced and spread his considerable frame to great effect to block Di Losa's low shot and the chance was gone.

A few minutes later Di Losa, whose mobility and determination by this stage was presenting some vexing issues for Easts stoppers, Carroll and Danny Gowans, got free again on the edge of the box and unleashed a powerful right footed shot to send the ball across the face of goal and narrowly wide of Parks' right post.

The longer the first half had gone, the more the flow of play seemed to have swung towards the home side. However, that trend was halted by the half time break and reversed immediately after it, as the visiting side again started with more venom.

Within a minute of the restart, a vicious shot from about twenty metres by Brockwell looked goalbound until Hall, leaping high, managed to tip the ball one-handed onto the top of the crossbar and out for a corner.

Again, Easts dominated the first fifteen minutes of the half, with midfielder Michael Thompson missing a good opportunity to put the visitors ahead when he fired a shot wide after being set up by a good knock down from a free kick.

The home side were once again looking flat, outmuscled, second to most loose balls and lacking in cohesion. As their collective will took twenty minutes to appear, their best moments in the third quarter of the game came from moments of individual determination from Hornby and Di Losa, who were refusing to succumb to the creeping lethargy which had infected most of their team mates.

Much as he had several times in the first half, Di Losa was making his own opportunities. On one occasion, having received a pass just outside the Easts penalty area, Di Losa turned the Easts defence inside out with a jinking run and made time to line up a left footed shot from only about ten metres out. Unfortunately for Di Losa, he hit it wide when it seemed easier to hit the target.

But while the likes of Di Losa, Hornby and Michael Butters were making a fight of things as the home side again showed signs of gaining the ascendancy midway through the second half, things were becoming a bit lax at the back when Easts counter-attacked.

First, in the seventieth minute, Hall was called into desperate action when an embarrasing mix-up at the heart of the Strikers defence left him one-on-one and scrambling at the feet of an Easts forward at the edge of his penalty area. Hall did the job but was adjudged to have handled outside his area and yellow-carded for his troubles.

Next, a corner kick from the visitors was met around the six yard area by the unmarked Carroll, who somehow managed to miss the target with his header.

The next one, however, did not miss. In the eighty-fifth minute, the visitors strung together an impressive move, involving around six or seven passes from deep within their half, before finding oceans of space down the right channel. A floated cross from near the by-line was met powerfully by the head of Brownlie, who directed the ball wide of Hall and inside the far post.

With the home side stunned and seemingly devoid of answers, things went from bad to worse over the last five minutes. Three minutes from the end Waugh was red-carded, apparently for using an elbow. Then Easts were almost in again as a fine diagonal pass picked up a good run wide on the left from Adam Bennett, whose left-footed drive flashed across goal and wide of Hall's left upright.

By the time the final whistle was blown, the Strikers were a well beaten side. They must now lick their wounds as they contemplate a trip to play the in-form Souths United next weekend on the back of this rather insipid and unedifying performance. That they will have to go to Souths without the services of the absent Stewart Drinkeld, the suspended Waugh, and the injured Jamie Lowndes and David Thomas, is going to ask a lot of their character and depth.

Given those apparent disadvantages, perhaps they would do well to reflect this week on the lessons they can learn from the performance of Eastern Suburbs last night - which are that attitude can be just as important as ability and that reputations never matter.