Glory goal sneak Scott Bulloch has been forced out of the Perth side that will take on Central Coast on Friday night after suffering a torn thigh.
Bulloch, playing in his first start for the club this season after suffering an Achilles injury, was on hand to glance home the Glory’s opening score against Sydney last weekend.
However, having opened the scoring in the 58th minute, he was immediately substituted for Dutchman Victor Sikora after injuring his thigh earlier in the game, with scans revealing two minor tears.
“The unfortunate thing for him is he’s missing out this weekend,” coach David Mitchell said.
“But it shows the character of the kid, he had a couple of tears in his thigh and he kept on and he’s probably going to miss a couple of weeks now, but credit to him, he’s done really well.”
Despite making his return from a knee injury in the Glory’s National Youth League clash on Saturday, Mitchell said it would be extremely unlikely veteran Jamie Harnwell would come into the senior side for Friday night’s clash with the in-form Mariners.
But Mile Sterjovski and Sikora, who were both used off the bench in last round’s 2-0 win over Sydney, look likely to start.
Leading into the Sydney game the pair had been suffering from an illness and a hamstring injury respectively, but both will be fit to take on Central Coast.
Having snapped a four-match winless run through the convincing win over Sydney at ME Bank Stadium, Mitchell is hoping to pick up some points on the road as the Glory have only won two of their eight away matches this season.
But he’s more than aware the Mariners, who have scored nine times in 4-0 and 5-1 victories over Melbourne and North Queensland in the last two rounds, are on a hot streak at the moment.
“Certainly against Central Coast, if you defend you put yourself in a bit of trouble,” Mitchell said.
“I think we’re good at scoring goals, so we need to get forward and score because we want to win the game.”
“If you score, that puts them on the back foot as well so it’s a situation where we’re not going to go and just defend.”
The Mariners look likely to bring striker Matt Simon directly back into the side after he missed last week’s mauling of the Fury with a minor back injury. But with Nik Mrdja having scored twice at Dairy Farmers Stadium, Simon may be played off the bench in his return.
