As Adelaide United prepares for one of the toughest away assignments in the league, defender Nigel Boogaard is doing his utmost to make sure he is part of it.
As Adelaide United prepares for one of the toughest away assignments in the Hyundai A-League, defender Nigel Boogaard is doing his utmost to make sure he is part of it.
After being sent off in the Reds- opening round win over Perth Glory for a second bookable offence, Boogaard was forced to watch last Friday night-s draw with Melbourne Victory from the stands. Now, having served his one match ban, the 27 year old is trying to convince United-s coaching staff through his effort and standard at training this week to be recalled for Saturday-s clash against his former club, the Central Coast Mariners.
“To be honest I-m not too sure,” Boogaard said on whether he expects to be in the Reds- line-up to face the reigning Hyundai A-League champions.
“It depends what the coach wants to do and how things all go, but I-m hopeful I can do enough at training this week to earn a spot again.”
Boogaard, who made 55 appearances for the Mariners between 2005 and 2010, always looks forward to the opportunity of heading across to Gosford to take on his former team mates. But while it gives Boogaard an opportunity to catch up with old friends off the field, Bluetongue Stadium has not been the happiest of hunting grounds for the Reds of late on the field.
The Reds have returned from their past five ventures to Gosford without a point but despite the recent lopsided ledger, Boogaard says it will not be something that is likely to be referred to in the lead up to this weekend-s encounter. Making this more prevalent is the fact that since he took over as coach, Josep Gombau has only met the Mariners once, in a pre season trial at Coopers Stadium back in September.
“I don-t think it will be brought up to be honest. It-s probably a good thing about having a new coach come to the club, everything in the past is forgotten about,” Boogaard said.
“Obviously you read into a few things like derbies and things like that but in terms of records against teams I think that kind of goes out the window completely.”
