Western Sydney Wanderers boss Marko Rudan believes young goalkeeper Jack Gibson has torn his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) after suffering an injury in the warm-up of their clash with Central Coast Mariners on Saturday.
Gibson was named in the Wanderers starting line-up for a second straight game, deputising in place of AFC Asian Cup-bound Socceroos goalkeeper Lawrence Thomas, after making his senior debut against Macarthur on Monday.
However, the 20-year-old suffered a nasty looking leg injury in the pre-game warmup, after landing awkwardly when he went to catch a cross on Saturday.
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Post-game, Rudan was asked about the severity of Gibson’s injury.
‘I was told Jack did an ACL,” he said in his post-game press conference.
“If that is the case we obviously feel for him, he got his opportunity last week and that happens.”
It meant Daniel Margush came into the XI for his first appearance since May 2022 and defender Anthony Pantazopoulos stepped in as a makeshift back-up goalkeeper, after initially being left out of the final squad.
“Daniel came in and did a really good job,” Rudan said.
“He came in, he came out and cleared his line, he made the saves that he needed to make and it’s not the first time Daniel’s played, and been a first team keeper.
“So he gets his chance and I always say your chance only comes when you’re ready.
“He (Pantazopoulos) put his hand up to become the reserve keeper.
“He’s a Victorian boy, so a lot of AFL upbringing, being able to do hand eye co ordination. He was loving it.”
Jorrit Hendrix was also forced from the field with an injury in the first-half, potentially compounding the Wanderers’ absentee list which includes Brandon Borrello (foot), Tom Beadling (groin) and Thomas (international duty).
“Jorrit is an important member of our team and for him not to finish off a game always lessens our, our chances to go and win because he’s such a quality player,” Rudan said.
“Oscar (Priestman) came in, in particular was quite robust and penetrated a lot.
“You lose those two players in the first half or even before the game and that’s football sometimes, we’ve just got to make sure that players are ready and the guys that came on… I can’t fault their effort. They really fought to the end.”
