Australia NewsNow Bolton's Ruled Out Too... |
CLINT Bolton is the latest Sydney star to be ruled out of their vital showdown with Central Coast Mariners this weekend.
The first team regular shotstopper has succumbed to the training session he suffered last week after a collision with Ben Vidaic which injured his hip.He joins Mark Milligan on the Sydney sicklist, weakening the side's defence along with the departure of Mark Rudan to Japan.
But coach John Kosmina still believes his side has what it takes to overcome the loss of the key players with Ivan Necevski coming in to fill the void between the sticks and Mark Robertson padding out defence.
“I’ve got full confidence in Ivan to get the job done,” Kosmina said. “He has stepped up big time in training this week knowing he was likely to play and he is a good keeper who will do well.
"Robbo (Robertson) is another guy who I know will play well. He knows his way around a football field and has been there and done it in big games in Scotland and in Australia when he won Wollongong a Grand Final with his contribution.”
Captain Tony Popovic believes the team will rise to the occasion in what is a big match against the Mariners, pointing to the way the side has played since Kosmina came to the club.
“I think all the games have been big games for us since Kossie came in,” Popovic said. “We’ve had pressure each match we’ve played and so far we’ve handled that very well. We had a bit of a hiccup last week but this is another big game for us.
“This is our catch up game and a win puts us into the four, a draw gets us a little closer to the four. If we do lose it will make it more difficult but it’s not the end of the world but it’s a game that can help our cause if we can get the points.”
In other team news Brendan Renaud will come straight into the squad after passing his medical yesterday afternoon with teenager Nick Tsattalios also returning while Matthew Nash will come onto the bench as a replacement goalkeeper for Clint Bolton.
Sydney FC squad: 2.Iain FYFE, 3.Nikolas TSATTALIOS, 6. Tony POPOVIC (captain), 7.Robbie MIDDLEBY, 9.David ZDRILIC, 10.Steve CORICA, 11.Brendon SANTALAB, 14.Alex BROSQUE, 15. Terry McFLYNN, 20.Ivan NECEVSKI (gk), 21.Adam BIDDLE, 23.Ufuk TALAY, 28.Michael BRIDGES, 29. Mark ROBERTSON, 30 Matthew NASH.
Unavailable: Mark Milligan (back/virus – 1 week), Clint Bolton (hip – 1 week), Juninho (knee – 2 weeks), Patrick (knee - 1 week), Jacob Timpano (thigh - 3 weeks), Adam Casey (leg - 7 weeks), Michael Enfield (knee - 6 months).
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