Avondale starting XI: Manos (GK), Wellsmore, Reid, Brice (subbed for D’Argenio), Carpenter, Trajceski, Towns, Tevere, Cuba (subbed for Cianci), Abdallah (subbed for Lundy), Fornaroli

Bench: Mayen (GK), Marinkovic, Hogan, Pisani

Goals: Fornaroli 45+1’

NWS Spirit starting XI: Marques (GK), Cornwell (subbed for Williams), Percevski, Nicholas, Wiggin (subbed for Jackson-Brown), Kavanagh, Takemi (subbed for Ahluwalia), Mustofi (subbed for Cunningham), Konestabo (subbed for Debono), Kyra (subbed for Denton), Ofuka

Bench: Coates (GK), Chidiac

The lone goal was scored by Bruno Fornaroli on the cusp of halftime, with the Uruguayan having only to tap the ball into an empty net after Aamir Abdallah’s square pass evaded the oncoming Spirit goalkeeper Chris Marques.

However, the victory didn’t come without a price as captain Ayden Brice limped off midway through the second half with what looked like a pulled hamstring.

“I was somewhat feeling it prior to the game,” revealed Brice, “but as the game went on … I just turned and sprinted in the second half and the hammy tightened up a little bit, so hopefully it’s not too bad.

“I went for a scan today, so just waiting on results now.”

Ayden Brice moments before coming off the pitch

While the upcoming Round 6 encounter against Preston will no doubt be fiery, nothing is riding on the result, meaning Brice’s absence poses no existential threat to Avondale’s campaign.

“It’s not the worst one to miss but also, you don’t want to miss a game in this Championship,” he said.

“With the team’s form and how we’re looking, you never want to be watching from the sidelines.”

When asked about what qualifying for the knockout stages with a game to spare says about the quality of the squad, the Avondale skipper was quick to pay tribute to the club’s new players.

“Look, we recruited quite well, obviously bringing Bruno Fornaroli in, Aamir Abdallah, Zach Cianci and so forth with the other boys—even the new coach, it was a bit of a change,” he shared.

“And you could probably see [in] the first game against Canberra, we lost the ball a few times because we were trying to play a new system.

“But now it’s all clicked … we’ve been defending really well, we’ve been attacking quite well [and] creating a lot of opportunities, so it’s been all positive for this Championship.”

The last 25 minutes of the match could fairly be described as a festival of fouls, with both sides happy to utilise the dark arts of football, albeit for very different reasons.

“You always knew Spirit were going to come out [in the] second half, after they conceded with the last kick of the first half, all guns blazing,” explained Brice.

“Credit to the boys in defence—they really held them off and shut down a lot of the chances that Spirit tried to create.

“It started to get quite physical with the fouls, but you can sort of look at it as a game management type thing, to try and slow the play down. I think we were just trying to kill the game because they just kept coming.”

Despite Saturday’s match against Preston shaping up as a formality for Avondale, Brice says they won’t be changing their approach.

“We’re always going to go out and [try to] win the game,” he said. “I think we’ve got some quality on the bench as well, [so] if Jony [Germano] wants to rest a few boys, they could step in and do a job.

“This week, I’ll try and speak to the coaching staff and find out who’s going to be centre-back. For me, it’s just about mentoring and being positive and providing the right information to the boys as a leader.

“But we’ve got plenty of leaders in the squad with Matt Reid and Yitay Towns … they really led the boys quite well [after I came off against Spirit]—they’re just as much leaders as I am.”

Brice is hoping the Preston fans come to Avenger Park in big numbers to help create an electric afternoon of football.

“I hope so, because the atmosphere is really good when the Preston fans come along,” he said. “When we play at their home ground, they’re nothing but loud.

“So I hope a lot of their fans come through, because I’m pretty sure it’s a massive game for Preston … if they win, they can finish second … I think this weekend will be quite a fiery one.”

All players hate missing games, but Brice says the attitude of his teammates makes being on the sidelines that little bit easier.

“You want to be out there, but to see the team do the right things and keep going on with our gameday focus, it sort of gives you an ease of mind,” he explained.

“Obviously you do want to be out there, but if the boys are out there playing good football, there’s no complaints from me.”