Words: Steve Pitman & Michael Flynn
Image: Getty Images

Brisbane Strikers captain Michael Angus says a tough series of lead-up games has his teammates ready for their Westfield FFA Cup tie against Hume City on Wednesday night.

Strikers will line-up against the PlayStation 4 Victoria club following a series of hard-fought results which has seen the club ride a six match unbeaten run to currently sit top of the PlayStation 4 NPL Queensland standings.

That streak has included impressive performances in the past four weeks against top six sides including Brisbane Roar Youth, FNQ Heat and Moreton Bay United.

Angus said their most recent 1-0 win over third-placed Olympic FC on Tuesday had the team in the right frame of mind to tackle the challenge at hand in the national knock-out competition.

“I think that after that result on Tuesday night - that was massive, mentally, for us,” Angus said.

“It wasn’t a fantastic performance in terms of the way we played, but in terms of the actual morale of the group that was a huge win and it will give us a huge boost in confidence when we go down there.”

Angus explained that Strikers coaching staff had spent the weeks since learning of their opponent in the Westfield FFA Cup Round of 32 draw, scouting Hume City to ensure there are prepared for the winner-takes-all clash.

“The club has done everything that they could in terms of our preparation and the way that we’re going to go about it is brilliant, and it’s a credit to the club,” Angus explained.

The match represents the first-time Hume City have qualified for the Round of 32 while for Strikers this will be their third appearance in the Westfield FFA Cup national stages.

Last year, Strikers defeated PlayStation 4 NPL Northern NSW outfit Broadmeadow Magic before being eliminated in the Round of 16 by PlayStation 4 NPL South Australia club Adelaide City.

Angus offered advice to the younger members of the squad who were not part of last year’s Westfield FFA Cup campaign.

“Just make sure that you know your jobs and stick to the game plan the ‘gaffer’ gives us,” he said.

“We can’t afford for us to go down there and then give a 60 or 70 per cent performance. It’s got to be one of those games where we are going down there and we’re giving it everything we’ve got”.

Angus added that there are unique challenges to playing teams from interstate.

“It’s obviously different playing someone outside of your league, someone you don’t know all that well,” Angus said.

“You’re trying to find out as much as you can and prepare as best you can, but until we get down there and start playing and getting an idea as we go, there’s also an element of surprise."

“I think that’s a really exciting thing about the Cup,” he concluded.

This story originally appeared on the official Brisbane Strikers website

Fixture Details:
Westfield FFA Cup
Hume City FC v Brisbane Strikers FC
ABD Stadium, Melbourne
Wednesday, July 29
Kick-off: 7:30PM

*This match will be live streamed by official broadcast partner Fox Sports (www.foxsports.com.au)