Sydney FC striker Alex Brosque has vowed to make an immediate impact against the dangerous Newcastle Jets on Sunday after he was cleared to make his return from a groin strain.
Brosque, who suffered the setback while training with the Socceroos on the eve of the AFC Asian Cup qualifier against Kuwait earlier this month, was in career-best form before injury struck.
In his absence, the Sky Blues failed to find the back of the net against both Perth and Gold Coast as they surrendered top spot on the Hyundai A-League ladder.
But the 26-year-old is confident he can pick up where he left off and help return the Sky Blues to the winners’ circle at Energy Australia Stadium.
“I’ve been pretty happy with how things have gone this season so hopefully no time at all,” he said when asked how long it will take him to return to top form.
“I’m not sure how the team’s going to line up this week but if I can play a part and I’m hoping I can, really there’s no time to waste. I need to get straight back into going 100 percent and hopefully I can get back to playing the way I was before I got injured.”
“It’s been a couple of weeks now so I’ve had a good week of training and more than anything just relieved to be able to get the chance to get back onto the park and hopefully we can get back to winning ways this weekend.”
“I’ve got no pain, leading into the end of last week I was feeling quite good but I gave it an extra game just to not aggravate it or anything and start fresh this week.”
Coach Vitezslav Lavicka admits Brosque’s return is a timely boost heading into the pivotal Round 24 clash.
“It’s positive news for us and for Sydney FC fans as well,” Lavicka said.
“Alex after injuries feels more confident and ready to play this weekend.”
“Generally we need to improve our effectiveness in attack and I think Alex is able to help us improve. Alex is a very important part of our team especially in attacking part because he’s quick, he’s very skilful, he’s able to score and able to prepare opportunities for his team-mates.”
Asked what his side must do differently in order to reverse their last-start loss to Gold Coast, the coach replied: “We need to improve our effectiveness in attack but if I compare our last game against Gold Coast we need to improve everything because we played passive, no effectiveness and no score.”
“But the players are able to do it, they’ve shown in games before and I trust them.”
Meanwhile, Brosque says the importance of the Round 24 clash in the context is not lost on any of his team-mates.
“It’s very big,” Brosque said.
“It all obviously depends tonight on how Gold Coast go (against Central Coast).”
“That could lift us, if Gold Coast don’t get the points tonight we know we’re going into the game challenging for top spot again and that’s where we want to be.”
“We’ve been there for the past month or two and it was good being up there and having teams chase us but having dropped off the pace a little bit I think if we’re going to challenge for top spot this game is a must win.”
