Roar skipper Matt McKay had a five-star performance to lead his side to victory over traditional rivals Sydney FC on Saturday night and coach Ange Postecoglou says the tireless midfielder has the ability to establish himself as one of the Hyundai A-League’s best.
McKay was instrumental in the 1-0 Roar victory, creating plenty of chances for his team mates through clever distribution before taking matters into his own hands early in the second half with a well-directed right-foot strike to break the dead lock.
The former Socceroo is in his first full season as Brisbane captain, and after strong contributions in the Roar’s first two matches of the season, Postecoglou was glowing in his appraisal of his skipper’s form and leadership.
“I’ve been on at him from day one that that’s the player he can become.”
“He can become an elite player in this country. He does those kind of things where we needed the quality and he had the quality.”
“He’s capable of it and, skipper tonight, he got us the goal.”
“It was a great reward for all the players, but it was well led by the skipper,” saidPostecoglou.
After the Roar’s opening 0-0 result against Gold Coast United, McKay told Sportal that his own execution hadn’t been good enough and that midfielders would need to provide goal scoring assistance for Brisbane to succeed in 2010/11.
The Brisbane skipper certainly met the challenge this week, and was understandably satisfied with his effort to register the Roar’s first goal of the season.
“I’ve been working hard on my finishing. I cop quite a bit of flak from the boys about it”
“I’ll keep working on it. I’ve still got a long way to go, but I was happy to get one tonight and three points always helps,” he said.
After finishing second from the bottom last season, the Roar have shown true promise with their new look side, and have now outplayed competition heavyweights Gold Coast and Sydney in their opening two matches.
The run of quality opposition continues for Brisbane next week when they take on another strong side in Wellington, but while Postecoglou acknowledges his side has drawn a tough start he says his squad has the attitude to keep their momentum rolling.
“We’ve had enough time off and the boys are ready to play, so I’m sure they’re pleased there’s another game coming up.”
“We worked really hard in the pre-season so we’ve just got to play games now.”
“I think they’re enjoying playing which is important so the fact that it’s at home again.”
“It’s against another good side, we’ve got a tough start to the season.”
“Gold Coast, Wellington and Sydney finished in the top four spots last season and everyone tipped them to be in the finals this year, so it’s not an easy start for us.”
“If we keep playing like that against the top teams it should be ok,” Postecoglou said.
