North Queensland Fury coach Ian Ferguson has made the tough decisions ahead of the club’s Round 9 Hyundai A-League clash with Perth Glory at Members Equity Stadium.
Sitting last on the table, the Fury is desperate to bring home three points from Western Australia and stay in reach of their rivals.
“We look at the league and obviously we’re still sitting at the bottom of it but you’re seven points away from the top, it’s still pretty close (and) we’re still in touch,” Ferguson said.
“But it’s vital we get something from the game this weekend.”
North Queensland is celebrating the return of key midfielder Ufuk Talay after the 33-year-old sat out the last two games with a hamstring injury.
“He’s trained the last three or four days at a good pace, at a good level and I’m reasonably happy with him,” Ferguson said of Talay.
“He gives us that extra in the middle … he guides the midfield forward … he can make the diagonal passes, see the ball and assist for goals so we do miss him when he’s out.”
Talay was an enthusiastic participant in the team’s last training session before departing to take on the glory.
“When you’re away from it you want to get back out there as soon as possible, so I was quite excited to be training with the boys again and yeah, just enjoying it,” Talay said.
After proving himself fit the crafty middleman says he’s already put his latest injury behind him.
“You try not to think about it, if you keep thinking about all the injuries you’ve had you probably won’t get on the park.”
Seasoned defender Robbie Middleby has also recovered from his hamstring complaint which saw him sit out last week’s 2-0 defeat to Adelaide United.
Ferguson has taken a squad of 16 across to Perth but didn’t offer midfielder Paul Kohler a ticket, nor young striker David Williams.
“His distribution’s been pretty poor lately,” Ferguson said of 21-year-old Williams.
“He’s a very good player, an exciting player when he’s on his game but I just feel as though there’s maybe too much expectation on him.”
“I’m going to go a different way this week and try something else,” he said.
“Unfortunately, I can only take 16 and I’ve got to make decisions and I’ve made them.”
Fred Agius has been recalled to the squad, but one man will miss out come game time.
