Fresh from his NAB Young Footballer of the Year nomination, Brisbane Roar’s Brandon Borrello has promised more attacking football from his side when they host Melbourne Victory at Suncorp Stadium tomorrow night (7.40pm kick-off).
Borrello was named as the March nominee for the competition’s prestigious award this morning after a recent run of form that has seen him find the back of the net and consistently perform well for the Queensland club in the Hyundai A-League and the AFC Champions League.
The Roar has scored nine goals in their past two Hyundai A-League outings – six against Central Coast Mariners in Round 24 and three before the hour mark in Saturday’s 3-2 win over Adelaide United – and Borrello said the squad wouldn’t sit back against the first-placed Victory.
“We play them tomorrow, we’ll see how that goes and depending what happens, we may have to change our set-up or structure [for Saturday],” he said.
“But we’re more than confident our structure here is always attacking football and we’re willing to score lots of goals and keep them out as well.”
Borrello was on the scoresheet in the club’s last home match against the Mariners and last season’s Foxtel National Youth League Player of the Year put his form down to the advice and assistance of his older teammates.
“Coming from the youth team, there was no one to tell you right or wrong,” he explained.
“But now, every step you take, every ball you pass, there’s someone telling you if it could be better or if you need to lift the intensity.”
The 19-year-old said he also studied the play of former teammate Besart Berisha, during his time in Brisbane.
Berisha is set to play to Suncorp Stadium for the first time since his off-season move south but Borrello said the team aren’t planning any special arrangements for the return of the Albanian striker, who has scored 11 goals this season for his new club.
“He was really intimidating as a young player, you didn’t want to do anything wrong around him, but when he was playing here it was great – I learnt a lot from him and Thomas,” he said.
“But now, he’s in another team, we’re not worrying about him only but the whole team.”
In a unique Hyundai A-League double header, Brisbane host the Victory again this Saturday as tomorrow’s match is a rescheduled fixture from Friday, 20 February when Cyclone Marcia forced the postponement of the match.
Defender Daniel Bowles will miss tomorrow’s match with suspension, after a late red card against Adelaide, but James Donachie is fit again and could line-up in the centre of defence after missing Saturday’s match with a hip complaint.
Meanwhile, Head Coach Frans Thijssen has been cleared of claims he questioned the integrity of the competition after the club submitted a response to Football Federation Australia’s show cause notice following the washed-out 2-1 loss to Wellington Phoenix in Round 22.
Wednesday, 15 April 2015
Brisbane Roar FC v Melbourne Victory
Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Kick-Off: 7:40pm
Referee: Chris Beath
TV Broadcast: Live coverage on FOX SPORTS 505 from 7.00pm (AEST) and SBS Two from 7.30pm AEST)
Radio Broadcast: Online/ABC Radio Mobile phone app.
Brisbane Roar FC squad: 5.Corey BROWN, 8.Steven LUSTICA, 9.ANDRIJA Kaluderovic, 12.Jean Carlos SOLORZANO, 15.James DONACHIE, 16.Devante CLUT, 17.Matt McKAY (c), 18.Luke BRATTAN, 19.Jack HINGERT, 21.Jamie YOUNG (gk), 22.Thomas BROICH 23.Dimitri PETRATOS, 26.Lachlan JACKSON, 28.Brandon BORRELLO, 33.Luke DeVERE, 34.Shannon BRADY, 36.Fraser CHALMERS (gk) **one to be omitted***
Ins: 15.James DONACHIE (return from injury), 34.Shannon BRADY (promoted).
Outs: 14.Daniel BOWLES (suspended – 1 week).
Unavailable: 1.Michael THEO (quad – 1 week), 2.Jerome POLENZ (quad – 1 week), 3.Shane STEFANUTTO (quad – four weeks), 10.HENRIQUE (knee – indefinite), 13.Jade NORTH (groin – 1 week).
Melbourne Victory squad: 2.Jason GERIA, 4.Nick ANSELL, 5.Mark MILLIGAN (C), 6.Leigh BROXHAM, 7.Gui FINKLER, 8.Besart BERISHA, 9.Kosta BARBAROUSES, 10.Archie THOMPSON, 11.Connor PAIN, 14.Fahid BEN KHALFALLAH, 15.Daniel GEORGIEVSKI, 16.Rashid MAHAZI, 17.Matthieu DELPIERRE, 20.Lawrence THOMAS (GK), 21.Carl VALERI, 22.Jesse MAKAROUNAS, 24.Scott GALLOWAY, 42 Lucas SPINELLA (GK) **two to be omitted**
Ins: 11.Connor PAIN (promoted), 24.Scott GALLOWAY (promoted)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 1.Nathan COE (injured), 26.Jordan BROWN (injured)
