Perth Glory coach Kenny Lowe has urged his young charges to seize the moment and ‘step-up’ if given the opportunity to shine on the national stage.
The team has suffered minor blows to winger Chris Harold and midfielders Gyorgy Sandor and Mitch Oxborrow while Josh Risdon is on Socceroos duty. But Lowe said it’s an opportunity for local players to step-up and take charge.
“We’ve got Alex Grant waiting in the wings, Aryn Williams is ready to go if we need him and the likes of Hagi Gligor and Diogo Ferreira have been doing a super job for us as well. We’re in a good spot. Injuries create opportunities for players and it’s up to them to rise to the occasion” he said.
Glory travels to Brisbane this weekend to face second placed Roar at Suncorp stadium on Sunday.
While the Queenslanders have been impressive in the attacking half so far this year, Brisbane will be missing key players Jamie Maclaren (Olyroos) and Captain Matt McKay (Socceroos).
“They’ve got a few out and Solorzano is injured but we focus on what we do. We’ve got good people in our camp who want to do their best and we’ll give it a good shot” Lowe said.
Last season Glory held the upper hand against the Roar. In three outings Perth won the first clash 3-2 while the other two matches ended up in 1-1 and 2-2 draws.
Heading into the match, Glory is ranked third overall in shot conversion and leads the competition in shooting accuracy at 59.3%.
The match kicks-off at 2pm (WST).
MATCH DETAILS
Sunday, 15 November 2015
Brisbane Roar FC v Perth Glory
Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Kick-Off: 4:00 PM (Local) (5:00 PM (AEDT))
Referee: Shaun Evans
Assistant Referee 1: Anton Shchetinin
Assistant Referee 2: Andrew Lindsay
Fourth Official: Alex King
TV Broadcast: Live coverage on FOX SPORTS 505 from 5.00pm (AEDT) and Sky Sport 4 (New Zealand)
Radio Broadcast: Online & via the ABC Radio Mobile App – A-league Live
Join the conversation on Twitter using the hash-tag #BRIvPER
To purchase tickets visit www.aleague.com.au/tickets
Brisbane Roar FC squad: 3.Shane STEFANUTTO, 7.CORONA, 8.Steven LUSTICA, 10.HENRIQUE, 13.Jade NORTH, 14.Daniel BOWLES, 15.James DONACHIE, 16.Devante CLUT, 19.Jack HINGERT, 20.Shannon BRADY 21.Jamie YOUNG (gk), 22.Thomas BROICH, 23.Dimitri PETRATOS, 26.Nick D’AGOSTINO, 28.Brandon BORRELLO, 36.Andre JANNESE (gk).
Ins: 10.HENRIQUE (return from injury), 15.James DONACHIE (return from injury), 26.Nick D’AGOSTINO (promoted),
Outs: 5.Corey BROWN (international duty), 9.Jamie MACLAREN (international duty), 17.Matt McKAY (international duty)
Unavailable: 1.Michael THEO (gk) (quad strain – 1 week), 12.Jean Carlos SOLORZANO (hamstring – 3 to 4 weeks), 33.Luke DE VERE (quad – 4 to 5 weeks).
Perth Glory squad: 1.Ante COVIC (gk), 2.Alex GRANT, 3.Marc WARREN, 5.Antony GOLEC, 6.Dino DJULBIC, 7.Gyorgy SANDOR, 10.Nebojsa MARINKOVIC, 11.Richard GARCIA (c), 12.Jerrad TYSON (gk), 13.Diogo FERREIRA, 15.Hagi GLIGOR, 16.Sidnei SCIOLA, 17.Diego CASTRO, 20.Guyon FERNANDEZ, 23.Michael THWAITE, 24.Jamal REINERS, 26.Stefan VALENTINI, 29.Aryn WILLIAMS
**Two to be omitted**
Ins: 7.Gyorgy SANDOR (promoted), 17.Diego CASTRO (promoted), 26. Stefan VALENTINI (promoted)
Outs: 19. Josh RISDON (International duty – 1 week)
Unavailable: 8. Ruben ZADKOVICH (knee – indefinite), 14.Chris HAROLD (hamstring – 1 week), 18.Mitch OXBORROW (foot – 1 week)