Soccer: Moon looking up as Brisbane stay focused on playoffs

REUTERS: Head coach Warren Moon is refusing to look over his shoulder after his Brisbane Roar team moved a step closer to securing a place in the A-League finals with victory over Newcastle Jets.

Friday's 2-1 win at Newcastle Stadium, courtesy of Jay O'Shea's 73rd-minute deflected strike, moved Brisbane clear of Western Sydney Wanderers and Perth Glory in the race for a top six finish and a berth in the post-season playoffs.

"We're always looking up, we're not looking down," Moon told a news conference after the match. "We're trying to finish as high as we possibly can in the table to make the finals and then to give it a shake. That's our ambition, that's our goal."

Brisbane trail leaders Melbourne City by 11 points to sit in sixth place after 22 games with 34 points, three more than both Western Sydney and Perth, with all three teams having played the same number of matches.

The top two sides at the conclusion of the 26-game regular season advance to the A-League semi-finals, while those finishing from third to sixth go into an elimination round, where they face off for the right to meet the first and second place finishers.

With four games remaining in the current phase of the competition, the Roar's fate remains in their own hands as Tuesday's meeting with City looms amid an increasingly hectic schedule.

"We'll have to adapt and be flexible with our changes, which we've done all along really," said Moon of his plans to rotate his squad for the game against the A-League leaders.

"We've always made a couple of changes in every game and Tuesday will be no different, and beyond Tuesday we'll have to do the same."

(Reporting by Michael Church in Hong Kong; Editing by William)