Matt McKay says his Queensland Roar side will take nothing for granted heading into Friday’s Minor Semi Final second leg at Suncorp Stadium against the Mariners despite holding a 2-0 advantage over the men from Gosford.
The Roar are favourites to progress into the penultimate round of finals, but will have to overcome a Central Coast Mariners outfit likely to throw everything into attack.
McKay said despite the lead, the Roar would look to play their usual game and go for a sixth straight win at Suncorp Stadium.
“We like to attack, especially at home,” the midfielder said.
“We’ve got a good record the last five games so we’ll out there and try to get a goal that will hopefully kill off the tie.”
“But the Central Coast have got big men up front and they’ll probably start with all of them and give it a real shot because they’re a dangerous side, away from home as well.
“They’ve shown that they can score goals quickly so we’ve got to be careful.”
Despite a broken nose earned in the bruising Bluetongue Stadium clash, McKay said there was no chance it would affect his game in the return leg.
“No doubt at all, I’ll play,” he said.
“I’ve never done it before so I don’t know what to expect if it gets another hit but I should be fine.”
“I’m not scared … I’ve gone through my whole career without getting hit on the nose.”
Not so lucky is McKay’s team mate Josh McCloughan, ruled out of the remainder of the finals campaign with a potential groin tear.
McKay said he was disappointed for the centre back but said whoever covered his position would do a good job.
“He’s been great for the last 10 weeks,” he said.
“It’s disappointing for his season to end that way. He’s well-liked amongst the boys and he really deserves to be involved in the campaign.”
Meanwhile, the two yellow cards issued to Danny Tiatto in the 1st leg of the Minor Semi-Final against the Central Coast Mariners stand with Titatto receiving the mandatory one match suspension.
The Independent Match Review Panel also found an incident where Adelaide United-s Sasa Ognenovski allegedly made an offensive gesture to a Melbourne Victory player in the 5th minute of the match between the two clubs did not constitute a red card offence and will not be sanctioned.
