Central Coast coach Graham Arnold is hopeful star signing Patricio Perez will be available for selection when the Mariners tackle Adelaide United at Gosford on Sunday.
Arnold opted for a safety first approach and left Perez out of Central Coast’s team in Round 1 after the former Argentina under-20 representative pulled up with a tight hamstring in the team’s final training session.
But the attacking midfielder is a chance to play some part against Adelaide at Bluetongue Stadium after responding well to treatment throughout the week.
“I didn’t want to risk him last week,” Arnold said.
“But I’m confident he’ll be right for Sunday. I won’t make any decision until the weekend.”
Arnold used Matt Simon in attacking midfield role in the Mariners’ 1-0 win over the Melbourne Heart and he did an outstanding job. Simon has been deployed as an out and out striker during his time in the A-League, but marked Heart star Josip Skoko out of the match.
Arnold said using Simon in a similar role throughout the season was likely.
“It won’t be a one-off,” Arnold said.
If Perez is selected there is a chance he could come off the bench with Simon again starting just behind the strikers.
After such a positive start to the season the Mariners are desperate to perform well at home and win back the fans after such a poor finish to last season.
