BRISBANE ROARING OUT FOR MORE IN ATTACK
BRISBANE Roar are poised to add more attacking thrust to their squad on Sunday for the visit of Wellington Phoenix to Suncorp Stadium.
The make-up of the Roar’s bench in their weekend 1-1 A-League home draw with Central Coast Mariners raised some eyebrows, with Henrique the only genuine attacker among the substitutes.
The Brazilian-Australian livewire was joined on the bench by reserve goalkeeper Brendan White, midfielder Matt McKay and two defensive players – Daniel Bowles and Stefan Nigro.
It was a change from Brisbane coach John Aloisi’s usual squad make-up, particularly at home, where he normally has an extra attacking option rather than two defenders among his substitutes.
Of the outfield bench players, neither Bowles or Nigro were used, which points to a waste of substitutes in a game where the Roar were chasing a win after going a goal down early.
Attackers up Aloisi’s sleeve should he decide to omit Bowles or Nigro from Sunday’s match-day squad include former Western Pride goal machine Dylan Wenzel-Halls, Nick D’Agostino and Shannon Brady.
Aloisi said his decision to have both Bowles and Nigro on the bench was precautionary in case left back Connor O’Toole and centre-back Avraam Papadopoulos – who had not played an A-League match since breaking his ankle in March – could not last the 90 minutes.
“Connor had been carrying a little bit of an injury so we just had to be aware, and for Avraam, it was his first (competitive) game back,” Aloisi said.