Melbourne Victory’s hopes are set for a lift ahead of tomorrow nights clash against the Central Coast Mariners with coach Kevin Muscat confirming that captain Mark Milligan will be a part of the squad travelling to Gosford.
Milligan was initially ruled out for six weeks after undergoing athroscopic surgery on his right knee, but will astonishingly make his return to the squad this weekend after having sat on the sidelines for only three weeks.
Muscat was reluctant to comment on whether his captain will start or play a role later in the match but it seems a certainty that the Socceroo will play a part in the match.
“Milligan is travelling,” Muscat said.
“Whether he comes of the bench I don’t know yet but he is in the squad to travel.
“He’s a very determined boy who has got a lot going on and he has been disappointed that he hasn’t been able to help his team mates over the last three of four weeks but he’s done very well.
“He’s been put through a gruelling session this morning so we’ll see how he pulls up in the morning.”
Former captain Adrian Leijer will also return to the squad for tomorrow night’s game, but looks unlikely to be granted a starting berth with Muscat favouring to maintain an unchanged back four from last weekends 1-1 draw against Perth Glory.
“Its probably the first opportunity I’ve had in six or seven weeks to keep the same back four let alone the same team so I thought we defended relatively well last week and those four boys will be given another opportunity to succeed.”
Forward Kosta Barbarouses has however again been ruled out, with the Kiwi international seemingly spared for next weeks Asian Champions League play-off in Geelong.
“He went over his ankle late last week so obviously ruled him out of [the Perth] game.
“Again, he’s going really well but it’s a week too soon for him.”
The last time Kevin Muscat’s side travelled to Gosford, Victory (despite dominating the affair) walked away with only a point in an entertaining scoreless draw.
Tomorrow nights fixture will also mark Tom Rogic’s return to Bluetoungue Stadium with the attacking midfielder set to line-up against a completely different Mariners outfit since his departure at the end of the 2012-13 season.
Mariners coach Phil Moss has made the most of the January transfer window, signing five fresh faces, including Eddy Bosnar, Kim Seung-Yong, Isaka Cernak, Matt Sim and Glen Trifiro, whilst letting go of a further three with Trent Sainsbury, Daniel McBreen and Michael McGlinchey all departing.
“They’ve bought quite a few bodies in so in terms of personal so who starts at this point in time is irrelevant, we just have to get ourselves right and our structure right,” Muscat said.
“Last time we went to Central Coast we put on a really good performance and we are looking for a repeat of that.
“We’ll go to Central Coast tomorrow to bring three points back to Melbourne and put out a team that’s going to attack.”
Melbourne Victory make the trip up to Gosford Stadium to take on third place Central Coast Mariners. Tomorrow afternoons kick-off is scheduled for 5.30pm.