North Queensland Fury will make little change to the squad that drew with Wellington Phoenix last week when they travel to Melbourne for their must-win clash with the Heart on Sunday.
After only securing one point against the Phoenix last week, getting a win against the Heart and all three points from the game will be vital in keeping the Fury’s finals hopes alive.
North Queensland Fury Assistant Coach Stuart McLaren found positives in players returning from injury and having the luxury of a variety of choice.
”At this stage we-re in a good position as we can keep a fairly consistent squad at the moment. It-s good to have most of the boys to choose from,” he said
”We can go to Melbourne with a fairly settled line up. If there are one or two changes that will just give us options off the bench.”
North Queensland has been boosted with having the option of selecting Erik Akoto and Adam Casey in the squad with both returning from injury.
”Erik Akoto is back available to us which is fantastic. We’ve got to look at it seriously and see if it worth to bring him back in,” McLaren said.
”We’ve also got to look at Adam as a possibility as well before we settle on the squad to travel on Saturday.”
McLaren was hopeful his team could overcome their problem of not being able to convert chances into goals and they could put the frustration of missed opportunities during past games behind them.
”We’ve been desperate for results for a little while now and it’s just a point of frustration because we can’t ask for anymore from the players in terms of their effort and, generally speaking, in their application,” he said.
”They’ve gone out there and done the job (coach) Franz (Straka) and I have asked of them almost perfectly and it’s just been about finishing chances off and maybe getting a bit of a break of the ball here and there.”
McLaren was confident if they could get a result in Melbourne this weekend it would go a long way to increasing their chances of making the finals.
”We just hope that if we keep trying and keep working hard that it will come on Sunday against Melbourne Heart and hopefully that will be something that will set us up for a good run and give us the best possible chance to push for a spot in the top six,” he said.
Despite the confidence, McLaren could not ignore the fact that in their two clashes already this season the Heart had come away with all six points.
”Whilst we played well in both the matches, whilst we created a lot of chances, we came away with no points. We can be encouraged by the fact that we can match it with them in any given game but we need to make sure we tidy up that area of the game that has been letting us down over the last couple of weeks and that is finishing chances.”
The Heart are coming off a 1-0 win against Sydney FC away last week in Sydney.
North Queensland-s 15-man squad will be decided on Friday night before they travel to take on the Heart on Sunday at 5pm.
