Emryn Donnelly-Fagan will be looking to build on his day of firsts when Brisbane Roar come to Wolter Park tomorrow (kick-off 6pm).
The midfielder completed his first full 90 minutes of the season in last week’s 6-1 victory at Capalaba – and scored his first goal in two years.
“We had a bit of a counterattack and I thought this might be a chance to score,” said Emryn, a Jet in the Under 16s before joining Brisbane City and Mitchelton.
“Linden (Farr) set it up, the ball flicked up perfectly and I put it in the back of the net. Left foot. As soon as I hit it, I knew it was going in. 100 per cent.”
That was Emryn’s first senior goal since May 18, 2019 when he scored twice for Mitchelton in a 5-1 FQPL victory over Souths.
It followed a slow start to 2021 campaign due to an injury from the end of last season, demands of work and missing pre-season.
“I still don’t know exactly what the injury was,” said Emryn, “it was my ankle, inside the ligaments, then I was away with work for three months.
“But it’s good to be back. The boys have helped me out, Royce (Brownlie) has been pushing me and that first full 90 minutes felt good.”
The result at Capalaba was ideal, but the challenge now is to back it up at Wolter Park tomorrow against high-flying Brisbane Roar Youth.
The teams have met 14 times in eight seasons of the NPL Qld. Jets have won nine, Roar four and one was drawn.
But, Roar have won the last two at Wolter Park and Donnelly-Fagan said: "They doing really well this season and we will have to watch out for them.
“We didn’t get the result we wanted against (Gold Coast) Knights and going into the last game we wanted to push ourselves,” said Emryn.
Tomorrow’s game will be good n opportunity for Jets’ young players to measure themselves against the Roar’s rising stars.
The day begins with Jets against Brisbane Roar at Under 18 level, kick-off 1.45pm.
Then the Jets and Roar Under 23s go head-to-head at 3.45pm.
Canteen and bar at Wolter Park will be open.