Brisbane Roar moved on from their stunning 5-0 rout of Melbourne Victory as soon as they hit the recovery pool the next day, according to captain Matt Smith.
Brisbane Roar moved on from their stunning 5-0 rout of Melbourne Victory as soon as they hit the recovery pool the next day, according to captain Matt Smith.
But the defending Hyundai A-League champions are still riding the wave of confidence as they prepare for their second long-haul away trip in three weeks.
Rado Vidosic’s men are up against an always-tricky Wellington at Westpace Stadium on Sunday – and they’ll again have to do without key man Ivan Franjic.
The star right-back has an abdominal strain and won’t travel, having missed the season opener in Perth with a groin problem.
However, Vidosic is confident that the lift from the massive Victory result and the character of a team that has been there and done it all in the A-League should hold them in good stead for one of the toughest assignments in the competition.
“You can see Besart (Berisha) is walking on his tippy-toes, he’s a few centimetres taller,” the coach said.
“Once the game kicks off you can see what these players are made of and they showed everyone on Saturday that we’re still here, and we want to be competitive as ever.
“The experience of playing in two Grand Finals, in the Champions League, in semi-finals and those big games – it just helps us.
“We’ve got a great culture we’ve developed over the last few years and it all helps a little bit.”
Berisha, who struck twice against Melbourne, might have been on his “tippy-toes” earlier in the week but he wasn’t at Brisbane’s last training session on Thursday before heading across the ditch.
Vidosic said he was on a different program to the rest of the group and is a certain starter.
Brazilian speedster Henrique is also a chance of returning from a troublesome heel injury.
He will travel as part of a 16-man squad, with Vidosic unlikely to make the final decision on his starting line-up until Saturday.
A combative Phoenix side awaits them, although Brisbane might be catching them at the right time – more than half the Wellington team missed the weekend’s 1-1 draw away to the Heart because of All Whites duty.
“We feel that they-re very strong as a unit. They-re very physical,” Smith said.
“You-ve got the flights, the slight change in time. The Westpac Stadium is always a hard place to go. Their fans make it very hard for you. They-re a very tough team.
“It-s a completely different type of game (to the Victory game). We-ve highlighted a couple of things we think we can play to our advantages over there.”
