Victory utility Leigh Broxham is in doubt for next week’s Melbourne derby against Heart after injuring his calf in Friday’s 3-3 draw with Brisbane Roar but defender Matthew Kemp got through his first match back from knee surgery without any concerns.
Broxham left the field at half time of the match and watched on as Victory turned a 2-0 half time deficit into a 3-2 lead before a last-minute goal from Brisbane skipper Matt McKay meant both teams took a point away each.
He will have the injury examined over the next few days, but is likely to miss the second-ever clash between the Hyundai A-League’s two Melbourne teams , while Grant Brebner is expected to overcome a leg problem.
“I’m not so sure about Leigh, it looks like he did something to his calf. He did it fairly early on, he was pretty tough to last til half time,” coach Ernie Merrick said.
“Brebs’ shin is in a mess from a tackle last week. He hasn’t been able to train all week because of his shin, but will probably be right.”
The other concern for Melbourne was the fitness of Robbie Kruse, who scored two goals but was withdrawn early because of muscle tightness he suffered during the week.
“Robbie has had hamstring rightness, we didn’t want to risk him for another 10 minutes. He scored two goals, I’d love to keep him on, but you play a price for that sometime. He’s hardly trained this week because of that,” Merrick said.
The injury problems with Broxham and Kruse meant Kemp had to play the entire 90 minutes in his first match of the season. Merrick was full of praise for the full back in his first game for 10 months.
“We didn’t actually plan to leave him on the pitch for 90 minutes, he was dying at the end there, but we had to put on an attacking player,” Merrick said of Kemp.
“And we had injuries, we couldn’t do anything about it. That meant Kempy had to stay on and he did a great job.”
Melbourne will get back defender Adrian Leijer for the derby clash, while the coach will be rapt in the form of attacking pair Kruse and Archie Thompson, who have scored five goals between them in the past two matches.
