A struggling Brisbane Roar travel is on the road facing an ever improving Newcastle Jets, hoping to revive their fading finals hopes.

Round 6 saw the Newcastle Jets bounce back from a tough 1-0 home loss to Sydney FC defeating the Western Sydney Wanderers 5-1 at Marconi Stadium.

Whilst Brisbane Roar ended their losing streak with a cagey 1-1 draw with defending champions Melbourne Victory.

The Jets found themselves a goal down before equalising right on half time. The Jets dominated the 2nd half scoring 3 goals in 20 minutes to put the Wanderers to the sword.

A Georgia Yeoman-Dale stunner in the 75 minute was the icing on the cake as the Jets ran out 5-1 winners, leapfrogging Canberra in the process to gain fourth spot and set up a prefect launching pad for their finals tilt.

Newcastle’s performance against the Wanderers proved they have plenty of scoring options with top scorer Rhali Dobson not featuring amongst the list of goals.

Instead they came from strike partner Tara Andrews who scored a double, whilst Emily Van Egmond, Katherine Reynolds and fellow fullback Georgia Yeoman-Dale scored one each.

The Jets goal tally and the variety of different scorers have given them an extra dimension and have ensured many options in attack as opposed to seasons past.

In season 6 the Jets scored 11 goals in total and Tara Andrews was top scorer with 3 goals followed by Dobson with 2 and had 6 different goal scorers.

This season, at the half way mark, The Jets have their already bettered that goal scoring tally to 12 goals with only 7 conceded compared to this time last year where they had let in 24.

Brisbane Roar has had a poor run of form to start the season registering just one win against the Jets in round 2. Their figures are almost the reverse of the Jets having scored 7 and conceded 10 so far this season.

The Roar squad boasts 250 national caps and with many players having represented the Matildas at Asian Cups and world cups they are hardly inexperienced and know how to handle the pressure when the going gets tough.

The history between the two sides has largely favoured Brisbane. The last time they met was in round two this season, the Roar came out 3-1 winners but the Jets have improved since then, recording big wins against Adelaide United (4-0) and WSW (5-1) and narrow losses to Perth Glory (2-1) and Sydney FC (1-0).

Whilst Brisbane’s losses have also been narrow, with 2-0 being the biggest margin, they had a shock home loss to Western Sydney in round five.

Coach Belinda Wilson knows her side are capable of matching it with the best and the Roar will look to Katrina “Mini” Gorry to put in another great performance and Claire Polkinghore to lead from the back to arrest their form slump and keep their somewhat slim finals hopes alive.

Newcastle are a potential dark horse of the competition and will be confident coming off the 5-1 win over the Wanderers. The Jets will be further motivated by ambitions to cement a place in the top four, whilst crushing Brisbane’s dreams at the same time.

Is this a case of a team on the rise vs a team in decline? The encounter shapes as the most crucial match yet for both Newcastle and Brisbane who both need maximum points to push for the finals. The stage is set for a mouth-watering clash.

Newcastle Jets v Brisbane Roar

Saturday 25 October 2014

Magic Park, Newcastle

Local kick-off: 1pm

Newcastle Jets squad: 1. Hannah Southwell, 2. Georgia Yeoman-Dale,  3. Hayley Crawford, 5. Katherine Reynolds, 6. Angela Salem, 7. Tori Huster, 8. Amber Neilson, 9. Tara Andrews, 10. Emily van Egmond, 11. Rhali Dobson, 16. Cassidy Davis, 17. Grace McIntyre, 18. Clare Wheeler, 20. Claire Coelho (GK), 24. Brooke Miller

Unavailable: Ashley Spina (knee – season)

Brisbane Roar squad: 2. Laura ALLEWAY, 3. Amy CHAPMAN, 4. Clare POLKINGHORNE (c), 5. Brooke SPENCE, 6. Hayley RASO, 7. Kim CARROLL, 8. Elise KELLOND-KNIGHT, 9. Larissa CRUMMER, 10. Katrina GORRY, 11. Vedrana POPOVIC, 13. Tameka BUTT, 17. Emily GIELNIK, 18. Sunny FRANCO, 19. Ayesha NORRIE, 20. Kate STEWART (gk), 21. Teagan MICAH

Ins: Ayesha Norrie, Teagan Micah (both promoted)

Outs: Nadine Angerer (international duty – one week)