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George Clarke

Gloves are off as Roar bid to keep ALM hopes alive

Coach Warren Moon says the Roar's match with Sydney FC is shaping as a 'must win' game for his side. (Darren Pateman/AAP PHOTOS) (AAP)

Brisbane coach Warren Moon says the "gloves are off" as he seeks to drag his side's A-League Men campaign off the canvas.

The Roar travel to face Sydney FC on Saturday having won just one of their past nine fixtures.

Moon's side have lost their last three straight and the Roar boss will hand mid-season recruit Stefan Scepovic his first start as he seeks to keep their finals hopes alive.

Asked if this was a "must win" match for his side, Moon said: "We're getting to that point. The equation is pretty simple, we need to win matches.

"With the new recruits arriving we can hopefully go down there with a bit more firepower.

"The gloves are off and we've got 10 matches to go so we need to get our best players on the park.

"We're only going there with the intention of getting the three points.

"We haven't given up on anything and we're going to push for the finals and turn this around."

Sydney enter Saturday's meeting at Allianz Stadium in good form, with three consecutive wins.

The only blemish for head coach Steve Corica was that English import Adam Le Fondre pulled up in last week's derby win with a recurrence of a hamstring issue.

Patrick Wood is the man expected to fill the void on Saturday, with Le Fondre not due back for up to six weeks.

"It's not good for anyone to be injured, but it's an opportunity for me to take with both hands," Wood told reporters.

"Hopefully we can go for four wins in a row, which we haven't done for a while.

"I scored a few at the start of the season and I'd like to get back to that this week.

"Hopefully I can get a consistent amount of minutes and put some big performances together to help the team to win a few more games."

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