BRISBANE Roar have vowed to turn around their nightmare record in Melbourne and seize the Premier’s Plate on Saturday night.
The Roar must beat the Victory to guarantee they win the tightest and most congested premiership race in A-League history.
While the Victory have mixed their form recently and are likely to be without the suspended Besart Berisha, the Roar have tended to struggle in the Victorian capital.
Brisbane Roar striker Henrique ices his knee at training.Source:News Limited
In their past six visits they have lost to either the Victory or Melbourne City.
“If I did know the answer (why), I would tell the coach (John Aloisi),” supersub Henrique said in addressing Roar’s indifferent away form this season.
“But we’re going to prepare well. As you can see the training was sharp today.
“We’ve got to prepare for the game. If we do our best away as we do at home, we’re going to get the result.”
Roar left back Corey Brown said Brisbane needed to act as if Saturday’s match was at Suncorp Stadium, where his team have proven almost invincible this season.
“We’ve got to go down there and don’t be intimidated by the crowd,” Brown said.
“I don’t think we are but we’ve just (got to) be confident and play like we’re at home and we’ll get the result.”
Henrique, who was pivotal in Sunday’s 2-1 win over the Jets, has shrugged off injury concerns despite failing to finish training yesterday because of a knee problem.
Henrique received attention from medical staff and watched the last part of training with his knee heavily iced.
However, the Brazilian-Australian livewire insisted he would be fine for the Roar’s visit to AAMI Park.
Brisbane Roar close in on premiership0:46
A-League: In his previous two seasons as an A-League coach John Aloisi failed to make the finals, but the Brisbane boss is now one week away from the premiers plate after the Roar moved top with a 2-1 win over Newcastle.
“I came here walking well, so it’s very good,” said Henrique, before adding that the ice was just a “precaution”.
Henrique wasn’t the only player needing attention, with skipper Matt McKay spending time on the physio’s table. But McKay is certain to lead the Roar in Melbourne.
Victory last night confirmed they would appeal the two-match ban handed to Berisha after the fiery striker was red carded in last Saturday’s clash with Wellington.
Berisha was given a straight red card after he lashed out at Phoenix skipper Andrew Durante with his boot while he lay on the ground receiving treatment for a knock to the head.
The match review panel charged Berisha with “assault on a player” (violent conduct when not challenging for the ball) on Monday and handed the Albanian sharpshooter a two-game suspension. Victory confirmed they had referred the penalty to Football Federation Australia’s independent disciplinary committee “for hearing and determination of the sole question of sanction”.
With 17 goals this campaign, the 30-year-old forward is a key component in Victory’s bid to defend last season’s A-League title. Without a successful appeal, he will miss the match against Brisbane, as well as Victory’s elimination final the following weekend.
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