Thu 28th Dec 2006

JUST three weeks ago when Queensland Roar went down 3-0 to a rampant Newcastle Jets at Suncorp Stadium it looked as though their season was heading for oblivion.

But when Frank Farina’s men line up against the New Zealand Knights in Auckland today they will be playing for three points that will put them back in the top four, at least that is until the Central Coast Mariners and Newcastle Jets play their matches on Sunday and Monday respectively.

Roar suffered at the hands of the Knights in round 11 so will not make the mistake of taking the game lightly says Coach Frank Farina.

“It hurt the boys quite a lot to go over there and lose last time and they probably didn’t deserve to lose that game. But that’s all in the past and we’ve just got to focus on what we’ve got in front of us and that’s New Zealand this week. We can’t look further ahead than that and I’ve stressed to the guys that it’s a huge game for us. I think they realise the importance of it, not only for us as a team, but as a club, and hopefully we’ll be able to do the business on Friday night. There is no question of complacency,” said Farina.

He continued: “It’s a very, very important match. We had a great win at Central Coast prior to Christmas which really set us up. Now if we can go to New Zealand and manage to get a win there, we’ll be back in the (top) four before the others (Mariners & Jets) play. So without getting ahead of ourselves, it’s a massive game for us and every game in the last three or four weeks will be finals football for us. Hopefully the boys will be up for it as they were in the last game and if they are anything can happen.”

Queensland welcome back wide midfielder Spase Dilevski who has recovered from his bruised foot. 21-year-old Dilevski replaces fellow youngster Chris Grossman whose short-term contract as injury cover for Marcus Wedau has now expired.

Also fit again is Sasa Ognenovski, but the big defender will have to wait at least another week to get back into the side with Farina opting to stick with the squad that secured the vital win at Gosford in round 17.

“I’m a firm believer in ‘why fix something if it ain’t broke’. If we need to, or we want to approach a game in a different way, you make changes. But at this stage we don’t need to,” explained Farina.

The Knights’ last outing was the 4-0 drubbing by new Premiers Melbourne Victory in round 17, but despite the heavy defeat few would argue that in the opening period of the game the Kiwis looked as if they would frustrate the runaway leaders. Draws with Adelaide and Newcastle in rounds 16 and 15 suggested that the Knights were growing in resolve according to Farina.

“Against the Victory I thought for the first 25-30 minutes they were the better side. Then within 15 minutes they conceded four goals, so they are a good side and can make it difficult for the opposition. We’ve seen the results they’ve achieved over the last few weeks – apart from Melbourne; they’ve had draws against Adelaide and Newcastle. It shows that they can grind out results. They’ve been in turmoil, but FFA is helping them out at the moment, so there’s no doubt that it’s going to be a tough game for us.”

Even though Farina and his men are acutely aware of the potential danger posed by the wounded Knights, securing the vital three points is paramount to their finals aspirations. It won’t get any easier for Roar in the last three rounds either, with away games in Adelaide and Melbourne to follow before a home clash with Champions Sydney FC on the final day of the season.

“It’s never going to be easy – with only seven or eight teams in the competition, every game’s going to be tough,” commented Farina.

“We’ve got Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney as our last three games, but without pulling out the old clichés, for us it’s one game at a time because if we lose we’re out of the race. Consequently we can’t look too far ahead; we’ve just got to look to New Zealand and try to get the points.”

FRIDAY 29th DECEMBER 2006
Hyundai A-League Round 18
New Zealand Knights FC v Queensland Roar FC
At North Harbour Stadium, Auckland. Kick off 5.00pm AEST, (6.00pm AEDT).

Queensland Roar FC Squad:
2. Andrew PACKER, 3. Remo BUESS, 5. Josh McCLOUGHAN, 6. Stuart McLAREN, 9. Simon LYNCH, 10. Ante MILICIC, 11. REINALDO da costa, 13. Spase DILEVSKI, 14. Ben GRIFFIN 15. Matthew McKAY, 16. Hyuk-Su SEO, 17. Damian MORI, 18. Dario VIDOSIC, 20. Liam REDDY (gk), 24. Griffin McMASTER (gk).

In: Spase Dilevski (return from foot injury), Griffin McMaster (gk) (new short term contract signing).
Out: Tom Willis (shoulder injury – 2-4 weeks), Chris Grossman (end of short-term contract).
Unavailable: Massimo Murdocca (foot injury – 2 weeks).