Brisbane Roar head coach Warren Moon says his side beat Central Coast Mariners at their own game in a 4-0 win away from home on Wednesday night.
The Roar were outstanding in defence and lethal in attack against a ten-man Mariners outfit which controlled possession for large parts of the contest but failed to breach a well-drilled Brisbane unit.
It’s the latest in a string of impressive results for Moon’s team: a third consecutive win (all away from home) took Brisbane’s unbeaten run to five games as the Queensland outfit moved to within a point of Western United in sixth.
Speaking to FOX Sports post-match Moon said his side outdid their opponents in many facets of the game the Mariners have been renowned for throughout the 2020/21 season.
“We came here with a game plan, and all credit to the Mariners, they’ve had a fantastic year,” Moon said.
“I guess we did to the Mariners what they’ve done to other sides: we stayed a bit deeper, looked to catch them on the break and obviously utilise the space in behind, and look it worked quite well for us.
“Obviously the send-off helped too, and we sort of ran away with it in the end.”
MATCH REPORT: Central Coast Mariners v Brisbane Roar
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Mariners star Marco Ureña received a red card in the second half for a challenge on Jay O’Shea which reduced his side to ten men staring down a 2-0 deficit. That margin would blow out to four by the end of the game, but not before the home side put on a gallant fight with one player less than Moon’s men.
“I felt (the send-off) was a moment for us to take advantage of the game, but I felt there was a momentum shift with them,” Moon said.
“They had energy and they tried to react to that, so I felt we needed to go with them.”
“It took us a bit to do that, but then when we did we found the quality to get three and four.”
With the equal-least amount of games played by any A-League team so far this season (16), the Roar are now perfectly poised to target a place in the top six.
With a bank of games in hand comes the burden of a heavy fixture schedule – but Moon’s refusing to see the build-up of games as a negative leading into the most crucial stage of his side’s season, instead he’s challenging his squad to rise to the occasion.
Moon put Brisbane’s depth on display as unlikely sources spread the scoring burden on Wednesday night. 20-year-old Alex Parsons and former Japanese international Masato Kudo scored their maiden A-League goals, Joey Champness netted his first of the 2020/21 campaign while defender Macaulay Gillesphey kick-started the Roar show with a first-half opener.
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After former Roar forward Scott McDonald’s departure to Western Sydney Wanderers, the likes of Kudo and Parsons will be called upon by Moon to support leading goalscorer’s Dylan Wenzel-Halls and Riku Danzaki in their attempts to fire Brisbane along a string of positive results.
“We spoke about embracing the schedule, really,” Moon said.
“If we look at it and talk about how it’s going to be a hinderance, well, that’s how it might come across in our performances.
“But we’re going to be positive about it, we’re going to use everyone.
“Like Alex (Parsons), I’m not afraid to put young boys in and obviously we’ve got full belief in the younger players in our squad.
“And the ones that aren’t playing, they’re going to get an opportunity.
From day one we said everyone was going to be used, and everyone’s going to be needed – more so than ever in these next four weeks.
We’re going to find out how good we are as a squad.
“We’ll look to freshen the boys up. At the end of the day, the boys like to play games, and we’re going to get plenty of them.
“We’ll just roll with it and see where it takes us.”
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Next Matches
Brisbane Roar v Wellington Phoenix
Saturday, May 1 2021
Venue: Moreton Daily Stadium
Kick-off: 5.05pm AEST
Broadcast: Fox Sports 505, ABC TV
Stream: MyFootball Live App, Kayo Sports
Match Centre
Melbourne Victory v Central Coast Mariners
Sunday, May 2 2021
Venue: AAMI Park
Kick-off: 4.05pm AEST
Broadcast: Fox Sports 505
Stream: MyFootball Live App, Kayo Sports
Match Centre
