With five goals in five Hyundai A-League matches, striker Adam Taggart has hit the ground running in Brisbane Roar colours.
But Roar boss John Aloisi has warned the club’s rivals that Taggart will only get better as the season progresses.
Taggart scored two well-taken goals in the Roar’s 2-0 rebel Female Football Round triumph over Melbourne City on Saturday evening, the club’s first victory of the season.
REPORT: Two-goal Taggart sinks City for first Roar win
REACTION: Joyce explains Fornaroli’s surprising absence
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And Aloisi – a star striker himself in his playing days – is confident Taggart will continue to improve.
“He’s always going to cause problems because his movement’s so good,” Aloisi said.
“He got his two goals and he still had opportunities to score others.
“He’s a goalscorer, we know that. And I still think that he’s got a lot left in him.
“He’s still, you know, getting used to his teammates around him, and he’s going to score a lot of goals for us.”
Taggart was prolific for Perth Glory, scoring 21 goals in 38 appearances before making the move to Brisbane.
The striker has now scored 10 goals in his last eight Hyundai A-League fixtures.
His contribution helped the Roar finally breakthrough for victory but Aloisi said he never panicked given the club’s performances in the first four rounds of the 2018/19 season, which produced three draws and one defeat.
“We worked for the last 10 days in preparing to beat Melbourne City – we believed we were going to win,” he said.
“We’ve got the side to do it.”
Aloisi added that stunning axing of Bruno Fornaroli from the Melbourne City side “definitely surprised me”, going on to call the Uruguayan “one of the best strikers we’ve had in Australia”.
City boss Warren Joyce was trying to remain positive following the final whistle, insistent he saw signs of progress despite defeat.
“I thought there were signs tonight that the new players integrating into the group and younger players coming in – it was actually better,” he said.
“You’ve got to progress during the season, haven’t you?
“You’ve got a lot of new players, you’ve got foreign lads coming into the country who are getting used to it, the families getting used to the environment, and I thought that was encouraging tonight.
“I thought there was a lot of good play, a lot of positives.
“Obviously you want the three points – we’ve not got the three points and that’s the disappointing thing.”
