Mariners defender Pedj Bojic is expected to be fit for selection when the Central Coast battle for a hat-trick of Hyundai A-League victories in New Zealand on Saturday.
Bojic has been one of the club’s form players so far this season and his expected availability is a huge boost heading into the crucial match against Wellington.
He missed last week’s 1-0 victory against North Queensland with a hamstring injury but trained this week.
The likely return of Bojic will force Mariners coach Graham Arnold into a tough selection call. In last week’s win against Fury he opted to start skipper Alex Wilkinson at right-back in place of Bojic, with Chris Doig coming into central defence.
Doig did a sound job in his first start of the season and is a chance to hold on to his starting position.
It is a call Arnold might not make until game day.
“I’m over the moon with his (Doig’s) attitude and professionalism,” Arnold said.
“He’s really putting the pressure on.”
“When a player is out of the team all you can ask is they train hard and be ready to play when they get a call up.”
“That’s exactly what Chris has done.”
Doig, who is off contract at the end of the season, hopes he makes the trip.
“It can be frustrating not playing so it was good to get a chance last week,” he said.
“I’ve been pushing hard, working very hard at training.”
“Things went well for me last week but I’m not naive, I know it was only one game.”