Key figures for Brisbane Roar and Wellington Phoenix react to Roar’s 2-1 Ninja A-League semi-final first leg win.
Brisbane Roar match-winner Daisy Brown has shown no interest in sitting back to defend her team’s 2-1 advantage going into next Sunday’s second leg.
The Roar striker netted her eighth goal in 16 matches as Brisbane overran Wellington in the second half.
“It gives us so much confidence for next week and puts the pressure back on them,” Brown said.
“It helps a lot but we’re not going to take our foot off the gas, we’re going to keep going and win by a mile.”
Brown cited the early injury to Roar centre back Ruby Cuthbert, subbed out after just eight minutes, as a motivating factor along with the sold out crowd of 3849 crowd at Spencer Park.
“I’m just so proud of these girls. We lost Ruby early so we were just playing the rest of the game for her. We know (the tie) is 180 minutes and there’s a long way to go.”
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
.
WHAT THEY SAID
Wellington Phoenix coach Bev Priestman made multiple references to getting home ground advantage in the second leg.
“It’s exactly what we expected, I thought it was going to be a difficult game,” Priestman said.
“We played a little bit into their hands in terms of their style of play.
“To go to Porirua Park, play the way we like to play, we’re going to do it in front of our amazing fans.
“This is where big players step up now right.
“Adversity, we always step up. And I’m actually really excited to see the response from the group.
“We get an early goal at Porirua Park, the whole game changes.
“I can’t wait. We get to go and put that right now. It’s a hard place to come.”
Brisbane Roar coach Alex Smith was forced to turn to his substitutes bench in the eighth minute when Ruby Cuthbert suffered an injury.
Instead of make a like-for-like switch, Roar put on Dutch midfielder Bente Jansen and moved Momo Hayashi to centre back. Jansen herself had been an early substitute out of Roar’s final home-and-away game against Canberra United with an ankle injury that had limited her to coming off the bench in the following two games.
“It wouldn’t be our season if we didn’t have to deal with something during the game,” Smith said.
“Bente’s a very experienced player, she can manage herself when she’s out there. Obviously a bit earlier than what we wanted too but that’s football sometimes.
“I thought we were the more aggressive team. Happy to go to Wellington with a one goal lead.”
Brisbane Roar and Matildas midfielder Tameka Yallop.
Brisbane Roar midfielder Alicia Woods.
