Brisbane Roar will look to mark their 500th Isuzu UTE A-League Men’s match with a win when they go up against Central Coast Mariners at Industree Group Stadium on Saturday evening.
Roar start the weekend in ninth position, just a point outside of the competition’s top six and four points behind the fourth placed Mariners.
Ben Cahn’s side come into Saturday’s match after spending the past week preparing in New South Wales following their match against Newcastle at McDonald Jones Stadium on Tuesday night.
The Mariners defeated Melbourne City 2-1 at Industree Group Stadium in their last outing.
TEAM NEWS
Corey Brown, Shae Cahill and James Nikolovski link up the ALM squad, who have remained in New South Wales to prepare ahead of Saturday evening’s clash on the Central Coast.
Henry Hore and Antonee Burke-Gilroy returned from injury via the bench in Tuesday’s match in Newcastle and will push for more minutes in Saturday’s clash at Industree Group Stadium.
Scott Neville also returned from injury on Tuesday night but will miss Saturday’s game after pulling up sore from the Jets match.
Jay O’Shea will miss Saturday’s match after being sent off against Newcastle, while Keegan Jelacic will serve the second game of his two-match suspension following his red card against Macarthur.
Central Coast will be without Storm Roux who was sent off and received a three-match suspension for his part in a melee in the closing stages of Sunday’s match against Melbourne City.
FULL TEAM NEWS: Queensland X-Ray Injury Update
BRFC Squad: 1. Macklin FREKE (GK), 3. Corey BROWN, 5. Thomas ALDRED (C), 6. Joe CALETTI, 7. Florin BERENGUER, 8. Jonas MARKOVSKI, 10. Nikola MILEUSNIC, 11. Jez LOFTHOUSE, 12. Taras GOMULKA, 13. Henry HORE, 16. Thomas WADDINGHAM, 17. Carlo ARMIENTO, 18. Shae CAHILL, 19. Jack HINGERT, 21. Antonee BURKE-GILROY, 22. Alex PARSONS, 27. Kai TREWIN, 29. Matt ACTON (GK), 32. James NIKOLOVSKI, 35. Louis ZABALA, 99 . Ayom MAJOK
INS: 3. Corey BROWN, 32. James NIKOLOVSKI
OUTS: 2. Scott NEVILLE, 26. Jay O’SHEA
UNAVAILABLE: 14. Rylan BROWNLIE, 23. Keegan JELACIC
LAST TIME WE MET
Roar defeated the Mariners 2-1 thanks to goals from Florin Berenguer and Thomas Waddingham in November the last time the sides met at Industree Group Stadium.
Saturday’s match will be the third meeting between the sides this season with Central Coast running out 3-0 winners when the sides met at Suncorp Stadium last month.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Played: 60
Brisbane Roar wins: 34
Central Coast Mariners wins: 12
Draws: 14
KEY STATS Brought to you by Opta:
-This will be the Central Coast Mariners 500th game and Brisbane Roar FC’s 500th game in the A-League Men and it will be the 61st game between the two teams in the competition – the third most of any fixture (Adelaide United vs Melbourne Victory – 63 games, Melbourne Victory vs Sydney FC – 63 games).
-Ayom Majok scored his first A-League Men goal in Tuesday’s Round 12 clash against Newcastle Jets. The 21-year-old has played six A-League Men matches for Brisbane Roar.
MATCH DETAILS
Isuzu UTE A-League Men 2023/24 – Round 14: Central Coast Mariners v Brisbane Roar
Industree Group Stadium, Gosford
Saturday, 27 January (6:45pm KO AEST)
