Weekly Warm Up: Brisbane Roar v Melbourne Victory

It’s time to rediscover that winning feeling at Suncorp Stadium. Show your support and go for Victory!

Brisbane Roar v Melbourne Victory
Saturday 31st December, 7.30pm

It-s time to rediscover that winning feeling at Suncorp Stadium. Show your support and go for Victory!

It-s very easy to support a winning team. Just turn up, sing and shout your way through 90 minutes of entertainment and then joyfully applaud your triumphant players from the field at the end. Repeat this for a few months and, lo and behold, you-re Champions. Easy. However, while Brisbane Roar fans were afforded such a luxury last season, it is when the going gets tough that supporters can come into their own. For Brisbane, that time is now.

As last year-s double-winners look to avoid a third successive home defeat, it is up to all Roar fans to get along to Suncorp Stadium on Saturday evening and be the team-s twelfth man. Your players really need your help to get over this glitch in home form before it becomes a major handicap in their bid to retain the Hyundai A-League crown. This means they-ll need your full backing from first whistle to last. If they go a goal behind, keep singing. If they go a goal up, keep singing. If the game is locked in a stalemate, just keep on singing! The noise you make and the positive vibes you offer really could make a massive difference, so get a ticket, ready your vocal chords and prepare to help your side to three massive points on home soil.

Of course, it-s not just about what you can do for your team. Saturday-s match-up is certain to be worth the price of a ticket – at least if the last encounter between these two is anything to go by. Back in Week Five, Roar and Victory served up one of the games of the season so far at Etihad Stadium. There were four goals, two red cards, penalties and all manner of drama as nine-man Melbourne Victory held the defending Hyundai A-League champions to a gutsy 2-2 draw. The game exploded into life as early as the first minute, with home keeper Ante Covic sent off after conceding a penalty, which was coolly converted by Henrique. However, not only did the ten-men fight back, but they even managed to take the lead thanks to an Archie Thompson brace by the 21st minute. The relentless action just kept on coming in an extraordinary first-half, with Henrique grabbing his second and Victory-s Matthew Foschini being shown a red card by the 36th minute. The final hour saw the hosts – backed by their noisy army of followers – defend magnificently to claim an unlikely point. Such determination will serve them well against Roar on Saturday. Make no mistake, while the hosts are wounded at the moment, a few bad results on home territory doesn-t make them a poor side, so the visitors will have to be at their best if they are to get a result here.

Can Roar end a remarkable year on a happy note, or will Victory cause more Suncorp misery for Ange Postecoglou-s troops? Get along to this mouth-watering tussle and find out. What better way to see out 2011 than by experiencing Hyundai A-League action at its best? Be there!