Brisbane Roar Head Coach Mike Mulvey is excited to return to Pirtek Stadium for tomorrow night’s top-of-the-table blockbuster against Western Sydney Wanderers.
Brisbane Roar Head Coach Mike Mulvey is excited to return to Pirtek Stadium for tomorrow night-s top-of-the-table blockbuster against Western Sydney Wanderers.
The last time the Roar visited the Parramatta venue, the team left devastated when their hopes of reaching a third successive Grand Final dashed after the home side notched a 2-0 win in the semi-final.
This time around, Mulvey has guided his side to a seven point gap over the Wanderers at the top of the Hyundai A-League ladder after 17 rounds but he-s still expecting the highly anticipated clash to be evenly matched on the pitch.
“We-re going in good shape, they-re in good shape,” he said.
“I-ve watched their performances in recent times and they-re quite a formidable outfit – but so are we.”
Brisbane comprehensively beat the Wanderers 3-1 back in November in the only match between the two sides so far this season but have never taken three points at Pirtek Stadium.
“These are the games you really want to play in. The players are excited, so am I,” Mulvey said.
“Last year we were a little bit intimidated in that semi-final but we won-t be this time.”
Fullback-turned-winger Ivan Franjic has overcome a stomach strain that has kept him out of action for the past month and has travelled in the 17-man squad to Sydney while Matt McKay will miss another week with an ankle injury.
Returning midfielder Steven Lustica was also in the travelling group to face the reigning league Premiers with Mulvey set to make a decision on his final 16 player squad closer to kick-off tomorrow.
Friday, 7 February 2014
Western Sydney Wanderers v Brisbane Roar
Pirtek Stadium, Parramatta
Kick-off: 7.30pm local / 6.30pm Brisbane time
Referee: Kris Griffiths-Jones
Assistant Referee 1: Scott Edeling
Assistant Referee 2: Owen Goldrick
Fourth Official: Matthew Cropper
TV broadcast: 6.30pm (AEDT) Live coverage on FOX Sports 1HD, SBS 1 & SBS 2 and on Sky Sport 1 (New Zealand).
Radio Broadcast: ABC Grandstand Full coverage Online/Mobile phone app . SBS Radio.
Western Sydney Wanderers Squad: 1.Ante COVIC (gk), 2.Shannon COLE, 3.Adam D-APUZZO, 4.Nikolai TOPOR-STANLEY, 5.Michael BEAUCHAMP (c), 6. Jerome POLENZ, 7.Labinot HALITI, 8.Mateo POLJAK, 9.Tomi JURIC, 10.Aaron MOOY, 11.Brendon SANTALAB, 13.Matthew SPIRANOVIC, 17.Youssouf HERSI, 19.Mark BRIDGE, 20.Jerrad TYSON (gk) , 21.Shinji ONO, 22.Dean HEFFERNAN, 23.Jason TRIFIRO **Two to be omitted**
Ins: 3.Adam D-APUZZO (promoted), 6. Jerome POLENZ (promoted)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: Nil
Brisbane Roar squad: 1.Michael THEO (gk), 2.Matthew SMITH (c), 3.Shane STEFANUTTO, 5.Ivan FRANJIC, 7.Besart BERISHA, 8.Steven LUSTICA, 10.HENRIQUE, 11.Liam MILLER, 13.Jade NORTH, 14.Diogo FERREIRA, 15.James DONACHIE, 16. Jean Carlos SOLORZANO, 18.Luke BRATTAN, 19.Jack HINGERT, 20.Matthew ACTON (gk), 22.Thomas BROICH, 23.Dimitri PETRATOS, 26.Corey BROWN **One to be omitted**
In: 5.Ivan FRANJIC (returns from injury), 8.Steven LUSTICA (new signing)
Out: 28.Brandon BORRELLO (omitted)
Unavailable: 17.Matt McKAY (ankle – one week), 25.George LAMBADARDIS (knee – season)
