Head Coach Robbie Fowler says his side won’t be resting on their laurels when they face the Central Coast Mariners under Friday night lights at Suncorp Stadium
The two sides meet in Brisbane nine years to the day from the famous 2011 Grand Final victory in opposing runs of form – The Roar have won both their matches against the Mariners this season, including a 2-0 victory at home in Round 8, and have won three at home on the bounce for the first time since 2016.
Fowler is confident but was assured in saying that preparation and complacency would not be an issue for his side ahead of the clash against a team out of form.
“We’ve watched a few performances of Central Coast and I don’t think that they’ve been as bad as what the score lines suggest. They’ve had a few good performances and there’s probably moments in games where there are probably lapses of concentration have faltered that way,” Fowler said.
“We go into the game and we treat it the way we would any other game. Regardless of whether we’re playing mid-table, bottom-table or top-of-the-table, we go out there and we do everything properly.
“We know what we need to do, we’ve got to have the right attitude and the right desire and just do what we’ve been doing. We can’t afford to take things too easy because times when you do that, you can become unstuck in football.”
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Last Friday’s dual goalscorer Scott McDonald has proved himself to be a pivotal cog in the Roar machine over the last few months, and Fowler is expecting the 36-year-old to stand up again against the Mariners.
“When you’ve played at the level he plays at, he probably understands the game a lot more than a lot of the players on the pitch. It’s important that gets a little foothold on it,” he added.
“We’ve got plenty of players out there who can control things out on the pitch as well. We’ll mention Scotty, we’ve also got a great captain in Tom [Aldred] who leads on the pitch as well, as do plenty others.
“I don’t think the players will be complacent. I think when you’ve got the players that I’ve just mentioned going out onto the pitch and leading, they certainly won’t let the players get too complacent.”
Fowler added that the culture of the squad has proved itself to be a real strength over the last few months, with the positivity reflecting in performances and team continuity.
“This is one of the things that we tried to get when we came over here, we wanted to get the culture right, we wanted to get the environment here really buzzing,” Fowler added.
“It was a case of trying to get everyone a little bit lifted, get everyone a little bit more together and I think so far it’s been a success.
“When you come into a place where you’re enjoying your Football, eventually it shows in performances and I think that that’s been fairly evident in what’s happening.”
The Roar are still unbeaten at home in 2020, and are looking to extend that streak to six matches in Round 23.
“Regardless of if we play home or away, your attitude or your mentality can’t change. You’ve still got to go out there and do everything properly. Just because you are home, doesn’t give you the divine right, I think that you’ve got to go and earn that result.
“Certainly the home form since the turn of the year has been really good, I think we’ve been a different team. We want Suncorp [Stadium] or Dolphin [Stadium] to be a bit of a fortress for us and I think we’re doing a reasonably good job so far.”
MATCH DETAILS
Hyundai A-League 2019/20: Round 23 – Brisbane Roar v Central Coast Mariners
Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Friday, 13 March
Brisbane Roar FC squad: 1.Max CROCOMBE (gk), 2.Scott NEVILLE, 3.Corey BROWN, 4.Daniel BOWLES, 5.Tom ALDRED (c), 6.Macaulay GILLESPHEY, 7.Jai INGHAM, 10.Bradden INMAN, 12.Aiden O’NEILL, 14.George MELLS, 19.Jack HINGERT, 20.Aaron AMADI-HOLLOWAY, 21.Jamie YOUNG (gk), 23.Dylan WENZEL-HALLS, 25.Rahmat AKBARI, 26.Jay O’SHEA, 27.Kai TREWIN, 28.Izaack POWELL, 30.Mirza MURATOVIC, 77.Scott MCDONALD **2-4 to be omitted**
Ins: 20.Aaron AMADI-HOLLOWAY (returns from injury), 28.Izaack POWELL (promoted)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: Nil
Central Coast Mariners squad: 1.Mark BIRIGHITTI (gk), 2.Ian Zygmunt GORDON, 3.Jack CLISBY, 4.Eunsun KIM, 7.Milan ÐURIĆ, 8.Michael MCGLINCHEY, 9.Jordan MURRAY, 10.Tommy OAR, 11.Daniel DESILVA, 12.Adam PEARCE (gk), 15.Kye ROWLES, 17.Sam SILVERA, 18.Gianni STENSNESS, 19.Matt SIMON, 21.Ruon TONGYIK, 24.Chris HAROLD, 26.Joshua NISBET, 27.Lewis MILLER, 29.Jair BRITTO, 30.Dylan RUIZ-DIAZ **0-2 to be omitted**
In: 21.Ruon TONGYIK (Promoted), 30.Dylan RUIZ-DIAZ (Promoted)
Out: Nil
Unavailable: Nil
Referee: Alireza Faghani
Assistant Referee 1: Anton Shchetinin
Assistant Referee 2: David Walsh
Fourth Official: Adam Kersey
VAR: Kris Griffiths-Jones
