A League 2011

Fresh from securing the Hyundai A-League Premiers’ Plate, Brisbane Roar coach Ange Postecoglou has made it clear to his players that he won’t be content with finishing off the season quietly, predicting a typically strong performance from his side against North Queensland Fury tomorrow night.

Brisbane Roar officially won the club’s first ever piece of silverware on Friday after second-placed Central Coast Mariners drew 1-all with Melbourne Heart in a rain-soaked encounter at AAMI Park.

With two matches left to play in the regular season, Postecoglou wanted his side to end their stellar campaign with a bang to demonstrate what he believed was a true reflection of their success.

“I’ve said all along, we’ve had such a good year that I want the table at the end of the year to reflect how good it has been,” he said.

“I said a while ago that we may have had enough points two or three weeks ago to have won it but we want to finish with a difference of two to three games because that’s been the difference all year.

“If we win it by a couple of points or just limp over the line, it will detract from how dominant we’ve been.

“We want to finish off well and with finals just around the corner, we want good form, we don’t want to be struggling.”

The Roar will be without midfield workhorse Massimo Murdocca and Costa Rican striker Jean Carlos Solorzano for the North Queensland clash, both players still on the comeback trail after picking up quad injuries last week.

Despite already sealing this season’s premiership, Postecoglou denied resting the two players for any other reasons other than recovery time, highlighting momentum as a key factor for his team heading into finals.

“I don’t think preservation is anything to do with us or what we’ve done this year,” he said.

“For us, it’s about continually extending ourselves and we are not going to change that, regardless of the stage of our season.

“We only know how to play one way – we like to attack, we like to play aggressive football and that won’t change in these last two games.”