An ‘outstanding’ mentality has been praised by Head Coach Robbie Fowler ahead of Sunday’s away date with Western United.
The Roar enter the contest on the back of a strong start to 2020, taking four wins from seven fixtures to open the new year.
The next challenge is a trip to unfamiliar territory in Ballarat for the Club’s first fixture at Mars Stadium.
“It’s a tough game. They [Western United] have obviously had some strong results this year,” Fowler said on Saturday morning.
“We probably need to keep it a bit tighter. I think in the first few minutes last time we met we suffered a goal and it made it really difficult as they got lots of men behind the ball & sat deep.
“Our mentality has been fantastic all year. We got a little bit of stick earlier in the season for not scoring in the first half. Performance wise, we’ve always been okay and on the periphery of where we need to be.
“We’re getting some good plaudits now because the results are going our way & we’re scoring goals late, and that’s down to the character the belief, and the mentality of our lads.”
Fowler says the squad aren’t concerning themselves with the ladder implications of tomorrow’s contest with the Roar sitting a point ahead of their opponents.
“We got into every game wanting to do as well as we can,” he continued.
“Just because we’re playing a team who are slightly below us – it doesn’t cross our minds at all. We’ve got a confident group of lads & we’ll be giving our all to get a result, as always.”
The Roar are without Scott McDonald for the contest, who is unavailable to face his former side, as well as young fullback Izaack Powell who is unavailable through international duty. In a boost for the side’s defensive stocks, Scott Neville returns to the extended squad after completing a one-match suspension.
“We have options. This why we have the squad we do – there are players who haven’t been involved and then we’ve asked them to do a job & they’ve done remarkably well,” Fowler added.
“Whatever team we go with tomorrow, whoever comes in, they’ll do a job for us.”
MATCH DETAILS
Hyundai A-League 2019/20 – Round 19: Western United FC v Brisbane Roar FC
Mars Stadium, Ballarat
Sunday, 16 February (3pm KO QLD time)
Western United FC squad: 1.Filip KURTO (gk), 4.Andrew DURANTE, 5.Dylan PIERIAS, 7.Valentino YUEL, 8.Panagiotis KONE, 9.Apostolos STAMATELOPOULOS, 11.Connor PAIN, 12.Dario JERTEC, 14.Max BURGESS, 15.Jonathan ASPROPOTAMITIS, 17.Joshua CAVALLO, 18.Besart BERISHA, 19.Josh RISDON, 22.Tomislav USKOK, 23.Alessandro DIAMANTI (c), 24.Thiel Iradukunda, 25.Luke DUZEL, 27.Jerry SKOTADIS, 28.Oskar Dillon, 30.Ryan SCOTT (gk) **2-4 to be omitted**
Ins: 5.Dylan PIERIAS (promoted), 23.Alessandro DIAMANTI (return from injury)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 2.Aaron CALVER (foot 2 weeks) 13.Ivan VUJICA (osteitis ), 20.James DELIANOV (gk) (knee, season), 3.Brendan HAMILL (knee, season)
Brisbane Roar FC squad: 1.Max CROCOMBE (gk), 2.Scott NEVILLE, 3.Corey BROWN, Daniel BOWLES, 5.Tom ALDRED (c), 6.Macaulay GILLESPHEY, 7.Jai INGHAM, 8.Jacob PEPPER, 10.Bradden INMAN, 12.Aiden O’NEILL, 15.Aaron REARDON, 19.Jack HINGERT, 20.Aaron AMADI-HOLLOWAY, 21.Jamie YOUNG (gk), 22.Jake MCGING, 23.Dylan WENZEL-HALLS, 25.Rahmat AKBARI, 26.Jay O’SHEA, 27.Kai TREWIN, 30.Mirza MURATOVIC ** 2-4 to be omitted **
Ins: 2.Scott NEVILLE (returns from suspension), 7.Jai INGHAM (promoted), 15.Aaron REARDON (promoted), 27.Kai TREWIN (promoted)
Outs: 28.Izaack POWELL (international duty), 77.Scott MCDONALD (not selected)
Unavailable: 29.Jordan COURTNEY-PERKINS (knee – TBC)
TV Broadcast: Live coverage on FOX SPORTS 505 from 3:45pm (AEDT) and Sky Sport 7 (New Zealand), Kayo Sports (kayosports.com.au) and MyFootball Live App, Live Fast and Data Free for Telstra mobile customers
