Coach John Kosmina is erring on the side of caution in how quickly to bring back a number of his injured key movers.
Coach John Kosmina is erring on the side of caution in how quickly to bring back a number of his injured key movers.
Marcelo Carrusca, Bruce Djite and Fabio Ferreira are all currently on the recovery from groin problems, the attacking trio missing the game with the Heart plus the previous win over Perth, except for Djite who lasted five minutes against the Glory before being subbed off.
The absence of the three has restricted Kosmina-s options in attack, but he is resisting the temptation to act hastily and rush them back knowing the Reds have put themselves in a promising position for an assault at the finals.
“He (Djite) probably could-ve started (running) towards the end of last week but we-re not going to push him back,” Kosmina said after returning home from the 2-0 loss to Melbourne Heart.
“We-ve got ten games to go and you want a healthy squad in the last five or six, you don-t want to force blokes back and then have a reinjure issue and give yourself a bit of grief towards the end when you need everybody on deck.”
The best possible scenario for Djite to be available appears likely to be the February 3 home clash with Western Sydney Wanderers, while Ferreira is on the improve as each day passes with the aim of preventing a long term problem.
Carrusca will return to full training tomorrow and is the one that rated an outside chance of being considered for Friday-s top of the table showdown with the Central Coast Mariners in Gosford.
There were initial concerns for playmaker Dario Vidosic after he came off in the 64th minute against the Heart after copping a heavy knock to the hip, but he is expected to be declared fit.
“He-s got a badly bruised hip, he copped a knock in the first half and he was actually going to stay on and then he copped another one, so it didn-t help matters, but he-ll be fine for the weekend,” Kosmina said of Vidosic.
Defender Nigel Boogaard is another who has been on the comeback trail, having missed the past three games with a hamstring injury. However, he returned to full training last week and played in the Reds- youth team in Perth yesterday.
The Reds- current injury toll has been largely foreign territory this season, Kosmina having had the luxury of a near full complement to choose from for much of the campaign largely courtesy to the players- conditioning under the guidance of High Performance Manager Sean Tagg.
Kosmina believes the early work done in the pre season has attributed to the current injury list not being heftier.
“The injuries we-ve picked up in the last month are minor because of the condition they were in beforehand,” Kosmina said.
“Good health promotes good health and it lessens the impact an injury can have.”
Despite Friday night-s loss, the Reds still remain in second spot, three points behind the Mariners and two ahead of Melbourne Victory. However, with just six points separating the top four, and the Reds preparing to face the other three clubs around them, Kosmina knows this is the time resolves get tested and will indicate whether the Reds are up for the fight.
“It-s going to get tight. This is a tough period of the season as a whole,” Kosmina said.
“Coming towards the business end of it, I suppose you-ve got to look that now it-s crunch time, now is the test of mental strength as much as anything else.”
