----- Match Preview -----

The Brisbane Strikers return to Perry Park tomorrow night to play the second of a sequence of three games in eight days that could do much to determine the tone of the rest of their season.

Nearing the mid-point of the season, Stuart McLaren’s team has eighteen NSL points and is close to achieving a target that it set for itself two months ago. And McLaren indicated earlier this week that a favourable result in Wednesday’s encounter with the bottom-of-the-table Football Kingz might even encourage an upward revision of the team’s ambitions.

"Once we got off to a good start in the first few weeks of the season, we set ourselves a few targets, and we agreed that a benchmark of twenty points by the half-way mark of the season was reasonable", McLaren said.

"If we get to 21 points on Wednesday, obviously we’ll be over half way to the 36 we felt would be good enough to finish in the top six. But if we can reach or go beyond 20 we can start challenging the players to do even better. The top six is still the aim, but maybe we can even get in between the likes of Parramatta, Perth Glory and South Melbourne".

For now, however, the hard work is still to be done, and McLaren was not about to underestimate the Kingz, despite their lowly position. In fact, he thought they might pose more of an attacking threat than Brisbane’s previous home opponents, the Melbourne Knights.

"They’ll come out and put up a fight", he said. "In their game on Saturday night against Adelaide United it took until ten minutes in the second half for Adelaide to get in front. When teams have their backs to the wall they can be difficult. We will need to be sensible in our approach - the first goal could be make or break. If they get the first goal their confidence will lift, but obviously if we get the first goal it will have a negative effect on their confidence.

"It will be a test of our professionalism, but so far the players have passed every test with flying colours. The game against the Melbourne Knights (who were also lowly placed) was not our most fluent performance, but they stuck to the task and got the result in the end. We will have to repeat that. But the Kingz will come here to play a bit, unlike the Knights who came to defend and get a point".

When asked if there were any particular Kingz players his team would need to watch closely, McLaren answered "Yes, Harry Ngata is the obvious one and Chris Jackson in the midfield is a very experienced player. And Jeff Campbell can whip in a dangerous ball from the wide left position".

McLaren is keeping a watchful eye on how his players deal physically with this week’s crowded match schedule and is willing to rotate his squad if need be. But he will not be taking unnecessary liberties. "We’re probably in a good position with Luke Morley (who missed last weekend’s 1-1 draw with the Wollongong Wolves) available again, and with everybody else free of suspensions and injury. I will put out our best team for both matches this week - I think I would be naive not to - from the players who are sharp and fresh".

If McLaren makes any changes to the team which travelled to Wollongong, those changes are most likely to involve tinkering with his midfield and attack. "The defence picks itself, really", McLaren said. "We just need to make decisions on the best set-up in the middle of the park, up front and on the right-hand side".

That means Karl Dodd, Josh McCloughan and Adam Webber will almost certainly form the Brisbane back three, with McLaren pondering a myriad of midfield options made possible by his versatile squad. Those options include using Steve Fitzsimmons or Joshua Rose wide on the right and moving David Pilic closer to the middle of the engine room. It is also possible McLaren could play the midfield holding role, with Peter Grierson further forward if Warren Moon’s troublesome groin injury needs resting.

Up front, McLaren will choose between Royce Brownlie, Rose, Morley, himself and youngster Matthew Hilton. Hilton got his debut against the Wolves and impressed his coach.

"I was very pleased with Matt’s contribution", McLaren said. "I explained to him before the match that there was no pressure on him as far as playing with his back to the goal, which is not his real strength. Just to play the ball simply. But his use of the ball when going forward is very clever, and he sees things that some other players don’t seem to see. I was very impressed with his effort". 

Brisbane Strikers vs Football  Kingz

Perry Park, 7pm