Golgol Mebrahtu says the Roar will enter Saturday’s return home to Moreton Daily Stadium against Sydney FC full of confidence in their ability to return to the winner’s list.
The Roar face Sydney FC just a fortnight after the reverse fixture in Sydney which finished in a scoreless draw eyeing their first victory in four A-League outings.
Mebrahtu, who made his first start for the club last weekend in Perth following his club debut a week prior in Sydney, says there’s plenty of confidence within the group to turn their fortunes around on Saturday.
“Sydney [FC] are a tough side, but we’re going into the game confidently,” Mebrahtu said.
“We hit the post a few times [against Perth Glory] – if those goes in then it changes the game completely.
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“Right now for me, it’s about getting on the pitch and helping the team win by scoring goals.”
Saturday’s fixture will be the first opportunity to play in front of his home fans in Roar colours for the experienced Queenslander.
“It’s a beautiful stadium we have here, I’ve watched a few of the games here when I couldn’t play,” he added.
“To be able to play in front of my family and friends, be at home back in the A-League, it’s been good and I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s game.”
Head Coach Warren Moon was buoyant with his team’s performance against the defending champions a fortnight ago and believes his side will be better for the challenge which remains fresh in the memory.
“It’s fresh in the mind from when we played them a couple of weeks and we’re looking forward to the challenge. We felt we acquitted ourselves well down there – rode our luck at times, but we gave as good as we got as well,” Moon added.
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“We’re looking forward to bringing them up here in the heat and giving them a good game.”
Jai Ingham, Danny Kim and Masato Kudo have been promoted to the extended 20-man squad for the clash with Scott McDonald the only player unavailable through injury.
Another opportunity to continue gelling with his new teammates, and hopefully find the back of the net, is on the cards for Mebrahtu tomorrow afternoon.
“I’m enjoying every moment of my time here, training and playing with them,” Mebrahtu added.
“Those partnerships will start to develop the more time we spend on the pitch with each other and I think we saw a bit of that in the last game, hopefully we can see more in the future.”
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MATCH DETAILS
A-League 2020/21 Matchweek 11: Brisbane Roar vs Sydney FC
Moreton Daily Stadium, Redcliffe
Saturday, 6 March (4:05pm kick-off)
Brisbane Roar FC squad: 1.Macklin FREKE (gk), 3.Corey BROWN, 5.Tom ALDRED (c), 6.Macaulay GILLESPHEY, 7.Jai INGHAM, 8.Danny KIM, 9.Masato KUDO, 10.Riku DANZAKI, 11.Joe CHAMPNESS, 15.Jesse DALEY, 16.Joshua BRINDELL-SOUTH, 17.Golgol MEBRAHTU, 19.Jack HINGERT, 21.Jamie YOUNG (gk), 23.Dylan WENZEL-HALLS, 25.Rahmat AKBARI, 26.Jay O’SHEA, 27.Kai TREWIN, 29.Jordan COURTNEY-PERKINS, 33.Keegan JELACIC **2-4 to be omitted**
Ins: 7.Jai INGHAM (promoted), 8.Danny KIM (promoted), 9.Masato KUDO (promoted)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 77.Scott MCDONALD (hamstring)
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Sydney FC squad: 1.Andrew REDMAYNE (gk), 2.Patrick FLOTTMANN, 3.Ben WARLAND, 4.Alex WILKINSON (c), 5. Alex BAUMJOHANN, 6. Ryan McGOWAN, 9. BOBÔ, 10.Milos NINKOVIC, 11.Kosta BARBAROUSES, 16.Joel KING, 17.Anthony CACERES, 18. Luke IVANOVIC, 20.Tom HEWARD-BELLE (gk), 21. Harry VAN der SAAG, 23. Rhyan GRANT, 26.Luke BRATTAN, 27.Jordan SWIBEL, 28.Calem NIEUWENHOF, 32. Patrick YAZBEK, 33.Pat WOOD **2-4 to be omitted**
Ins: 18.Luke IVANOVIC (promoted), 26.Luke BRATTAN (return from injury), 32. Patrick YAZBEK (promoted).
Outs: 8.Paulo RETRE (suspended – 1 week)
Unavailable: 7.Michael ZULLO (calf – 1 week), 12.Trent BUHAGIAR (knee – 1 weeks), 19.Chris ZUVELA (knee – indefinite), 30.Adam PAVLESIC (gk) (indefinite – collarbone)
Referee: Shaun Evans
Assistant Referee 1: Nathan MacDonald
Assistant Referee 2: Andrew Lindsay
Fourth Official: Chris Beath
VAR: Alex King
TV Broadcast: Live coverage on FOX SPORTS 505 from 5:00pm (AEDT), ABC TV from 5:00pm (AEDT), Sky Sport 7 (New Zealand), Kayo Sports (www.kayosports.com.au) and MyFootball Live App, Live Fast and Data Free for Telstra mobile customers
Join the conversation on Twitter using the hash-tag #BRIvSYD
To purchase tickets visit www.a-league.com.au/tickets
