The double-fixture anomaly is the result of the postponement of a match earlier in the season when Cyclone Marcia devastated Queensland and brought disruption and widespread flooding. "Nathan is still battling with his back problem and doesn't look too good at this point. We will monitor him and keep him under close scrutiny but we won't be taking any risks," Muscat said on Sunday. Lawrence has vied with Coe for the goalkeeping position for several seasons. Ange Postecoglou gave him a chance at the start of the 2012-13 season but signed Coe as a replacement four rounds into the campaign. Since then Lawrence has been a patient and determined understudy who has stepped into the breach when required. If Coe's injury is worse than feared, however, he will be under enormous pressure between the posts for a team that, despite Friday night's reversal, are still very live Premiers Plate and Championship challengers. Muscat will otherwise have a full hand from which to choose for the trip to Queensland, although it is unlikely he will field the same starting line-up in both games. His squad depth will be tested with the matches on Wednesday and Saturday, but he is optimistic his players have the physical and mental strength to get through it.

He is also confident that they will bounce back from what was a stunning upset on Friday night against the lowly Jets, which have only won two games all season before travelling to Melbourne. "It wasn't great, but there is no point in getting too worried about it. We created a lot of chances, we played well enough - it's not as if they were better than us - and on another night one of those goes in and it's a different game. "We have to regroup and focus on the job ahead now. Brisbane are the defending champions, they have been given a finals lifeline and it's important for us to bounce back." Roar have been guaranteed a finals spot thanks to the exclusion of Perth Glory so they will now get a chance to defend their title, although it won't be easy having to play every game on the road. Still, they showed that life away from home didn't hold too many terrors when they saw off Premiers Plate-chasing Adelaide United at Hindmarsh on Saturday afternoon, racing to a 3-0 lead before surviving a late Reds onslaught to win 3-2.

The loss keeps Adelaide a point behind Victory (which have a game in hand) and Sydney, which joined Victory on 44 points after their 3-0 win against the disgraced Glory in Perth on Friday night. Brisbane's win continues to put pressure on Melbourne City, as they have a game in hand on the fifth-placed Victorian side. Glory have seven business days to appeal against their exclusion from the finals series, and $269,000 fine, after being found guilty by the FFA of cheating the salary cap. Theoretically the West Australian club, which received the verdict on Friday, April 10, could delay an appeal until Monday, April 20 or Tuesday, April 21, depending on whether last Friday is counted as the first day of the seven. The FFA did consider stripping the table of all Glory results this season, but decided the most straightforward way to deliver an on-field punishment was to simply exclude them from the A-League finals series.