It’s all change for Melbourne Victory as they make the trip to Hunter Stadium to take on Newcastle Jets tomorrow night.
Captain Mark Milligan is the latest in a string of omissions for Kevin Muscat’s side, after succumbing to a knee injury during Victory’s final training session of the week.
With Adrian Leijer already missing through suspension, and the quartet of Scott Galloway, Jason Geria, Nick Ansell and Connor Pain all away on U22 Socceroos duty, Milligan’s injury couldn’t have come at a worse time for the Victory.
It leaves them horribly short at the back with youth league player Dylan Murnane set for his first appearance of the season.
Muscat has stressed that this week provides a great opportunity for some new players to come in and leave a mark on the senior side.
“It’s just an opportunity for someone else, a couple of young boys who are ready to come in and play, so from our perspective we’ll concentrate more on that rather than Mark [Milligan] at this time.”
The Victory coach was also full of praise for Murnane and his performances at youth league level, believing that the young full back is ready to step into the side, even if he’s utilised as a centre back.
“If Dylan [Murnane] does come in and play, it’s an opportunity he’s been waiting for – it will be an opportunity for him to go play well,” he said.
“He certainly knows the structures inside out, so I’ve got all the confidence in him.”
In some better news for Melbourne, marquee defender Pablo Contreras is set to reclaim his spot in the side after overcoming a quad injury. Archie Thompson is also set for some game time, after missing the last five weeks with a hamstring injury.
“Archie’s fine, Archie will travel,” Muscat said.
“Obviously we’re going to have to take a little bit of precaution with him as well, he’s missed five games but he’s certainly trained really well this week so he’ll certainly be involved in the game.”
He is aware that this week will be tough due to the numbers out of the side, but insists that it won’t be an excuse for a poor performance.
“We’re probably down to the bare bones in terms of numbers in the squad – it’s not an excuse, we’ll go to Newcastle, we’ll be positive, we’ll try and bring three points back.
“Lessons learned from last week, when we stop being positive, we stop playing the way we want to play, we weren’t in the game.
“The challenge for us this week is to go there and really be positive and have a go at Newcastle.”
Melbourne Victory take on the Newcastle Jets at Hunter Stadium tomorrow night (Friday 10th January), with kick-off scheduled for 7:30 pm.