Canberra United coach, Rae Dower is confident her players will be better prepared as they head into this Saturday’s clash with Brisbane Roar.

Speaking to the media ahead of Round 3 of the W-League, Dower stressed the importance of having gotten their first match out of the way as the squad looks to gel.

“You don’t have a lot of preparation time, in an ideal world everyone’s together for six weeks, you’ve got that preparation you’ve got that chemistry all sorted out,” Dower said.

“We’ve got that game under our belt now.

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Keeping in line with her thoughts immediately post-game after the 2-1 loss to Melbourne City, Dower was happy with the performance but highlighted the defensive lapses that cost her side.

“The first goal was a bit disappointing off a set piece… no doubt the players will learn from that and we’ll be better next week.”

Defender Hannah Brewer echoed her coach’s sentiments regarding the limited preparation time heading into the season.

“It was our first hit out as a team and again it was positive,” Brewer said ahead of just her second game with United.

“I think we had two days together as a full squad and obviously to come out and play like we did was good, but we have another week under our belt.”

Brewer, who has one cap for the Matildas, highlighted Canberra’s attack as a key area for improvement but stressed the importance of staying focused at the back.

“I think that’s our area of improvement [attack]…you can’t have 37 balls into the box and not convert them. But also you can’t have six or seven balls into our defensive box and concede two.”

Whilst the above figures can be put down to rustiness, United will have to be far more clinical when they come up against Brisbane Roar.

Brisbane are unbeaten in their first two games with their opening round win over last season’s runners-up Sydney FC a standout in an impressive start to the campaign.

Dower said the team was well prepared to face any onslaught they receive up north.

“Brisbane are a very strong team…they’ll be very well prepared.

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“They’ve started with a win and a draw on the weekend so they’ll be ready to bounce back and get the points as well, certainly a tough game up in the Sunshine State for sure.”

Despite not taking any points from their first outing, United looked impressive, especially when moving forward.

Dower revealed that trusting her players to play what they see and move forward without restriction was key to the huge amount of chances created last week.

“The players upfront have got a bit of a free license to all go into that area. The players in that front third know what they need to do and they’ve got a lot of freedom to be able to play what they see rather than be too robotic.”

Canberra will face the Roar at A.J. Kelly Field on Sunday at 5pm.