Enticing battles across the park are set to highlight the Roar’s first meeting of the season against Perth Glory at HBF Park on Friday night.
The Roar head to Perth for the first time since 2019 in what will also be the first meeting between the two teams in more than a year with both sides eyeing their first wins in a couple of weeks.
Brisbane has recorded back-to-back clean sheets in scoreless draws while the Glory won’t have taken the field for three weeks by the time kick-off comes around on Friday night.
The Roar have played four fixtures in that period, but Head Coach Warren Moon isn’t reading too much in the contrasting schedules.
Locked & loaded for our trip west ?
Ins & Outs ? https://t.co/gU0RVDigK7#PERvBRI #ALeague #ForTheCrest pic.twitter.com/ExBIK71JGa
— Brisbane Roar FC (@brisbaneroar) February 25, 2021
“Some teams have struggled with the big break, some haven’t. For us, it’s focusing on what we can do well, our plans going into the game and trying to get a result with a positive performance,” Moon said on Thursday morning.
Despite having just five matches under their belt so far this season, the Glory are just about the league’s top scorers having fought out separate nine-goal and eight-goal battles earlier in the campaign.
The hosts boast an attack which contains the likes of Andy Keogh, Bruno Fornaroli, Diego Castro and former Roar striker Nick D’Agostino, but the Roar are backing their defensive structures to hold the Glory at bay.
“They’ve got a lot of firepower, and have some players of quality, but they’re no different to other sides who have good players in the front third,” Moon added.
“We back ourselves too – defensively we’re strong. It’ll be a great challenge between the two sides. We pride ourselves on our defensive structures and we think we’re a good side defensively.
The Roar will also be looking to bounce back to their goal-scoring best following two shutouts
“Where we’ll look to hurt them is going the other, because we know they’ve scored a few but they’ve also conceded some as well.”
“We would like to score, but I will say we are still creating the same amount of chances per match and we’re in the areas where we can score… as long as we’re doing that, I’m happy.”
MATCH DETAILS
A-League 2020/21 Matchweek 10: Perth Glory vs Brisbane Roar
HBF Park, Perth
Friday, 26 February (8:05pm kick-off QLD time, 6:05pm local)
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Perth Glory squad: 1.Tando VELAPHI (GK), 5.Jonathan ASPROPOTAMITIS, 6.Osama MALIK, 9.Bruno FORNAROLI, 10.Andy KEOGH, 15.Brandon WILSON, 16.Nick SULLIVAN, 17.Diego CASTRO (C), 18.Nick D’AGOSTINO, 19.Calllum TIMMINS, 20.Carlo ARMIENTO, 21.Bryce BAFFORD, 22.Josh RAWLINS, 23.Dane INGHAM, 24.Daniel STYNES, 29.Darryl LACHMAN, 33.Liam REDDY (GK), 34.Mason TATAFU, 88.Neil KILKENNY **1-3 to be omitted**
Ins: 6.Osama MALIK (returns from injury)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 7.Chris IKONOMIDIS (knee – 2-3 weeks)
Brisbane Roar FC squad: 1.Macklin FREKE (gk), 3.Corey BROWN, 5.Tom ALDRED (c), 6.Macaulay GILLESPHEY, 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, 34.Alex PARSONS **2-4 to be omitted**
Ins: 8.Danny KIM (promoted), 9.Masato KUDO (promoted), 29.Jordan COURTNEY-PERKINS (promoted), 33.Keegan JELACIC (promoted), 34.Alex PARSONS (promoted)
Outs: 77.Scott MCDONALD (hamstring)
Unavailable: Nil
Referee: Alireza Faghani
Assistant Referee 1: Josh Manella
Assistant Referee 2: Arvin Shanmuganathan
Fourth Official: Shane Skinner
VAR: Kate Jacewicz
TV Broadcast: Live coverage on FOX SPORTS 505 from 9:00pm (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.
