Queensland defender Luke DeVere knows that his side will have to be on top of its game if it is to come away with the points in Saturday night’s Hyundai A-League clash against Central Coast.
Currently in third place, one point ahead of the Mariners, the Roar’s unbeaten away record will give them plenty of confidence ahead of the match at Bluetongue Stadium.
The last time these two sides met, two goals to Dylan Macallister ensured a 4-2 victory for the Mariners.
A win for the Roar could see them climb as high as second on the ladder, but a loss and wins to Wellington and Sydney would see them crash down to sixth place.
“They’re only one point behind us so it’s a big game this weekend,” DeVere said. “It’d be a good time to get three points and keep that away streak going.”
“The first time we played them it was a strong game and a strong team.”
“We didn’t play the best game when they came to Suncorp (Stadium) so hopefully we can turn that around and have a better performance.”
DeVere praised his fellow defenders for their strong performance against Sydney last weekend but still felt like it was two points lost after the Roar controlled the majority of the match that finished 1-1.
“We had a few good chances to kill the game off. We didn’t take those and then it cost us towards the end,” he said.
“It’s a bit disappointing to have led for most of the game and then concede that goal. We played pretty well in the first half then just dropped off a bit.”
“The first half they didn’t really create too many chances then in the second half when we were under pressure we held them out.”
The 19-year-old has played the past two matches following his return from Young Socceroos duty and is enjoying being back in Queensland after a hectic month.
“It’s good to come back now and play some games and hopefully get a few more results in the next few weeks,” he said.
“The body’s handling it alright. I’m used to a fairly big workload, coming from the AIS.”
