Leaders Macarthur FC have been dealt a hammer blow with skipper and star playmaker Ulises Davila to miss at least four A-League Men games with a knee injury.
Davila was injured in a crunching tackle by Central Coast fullback Jacob Farrell on Sunday that only drew a yellow card, with Bulls coach Ante Milicic upset post-match the challenge didn’t draw further punishment.
The Mexican playmaker will now be sidelined until the new year, which includes at least four league matches and Wednesday’s FFA Cup clash with Sydney FC.
“No good. So as we saw, for me on the bench live, I knew it was it was a bad challenge and Uli now hasn’t pulled up well, so we’ve sent him for scans,” Milicic told reporters on Tuesday.
“We’re just awaiting 100 per cent confirmation of the results but, at this stage, he will definitely be out for at least four weeks.
“The impact on the ankle was that strong that it placed the knee in a unnatural movement, you could say.
“But in the end it hasn’t pulled up well, there’s damage there.”
Milicic said he’d not wanted to waste energy on following up with the referees assessors on Farrell’s challenge, instead focusing on who will replace Davila.
“Of course we’re disappointed, not only do we lose a fantastic player but we lose our captain who means a lot for us,” Milicic said.
“Now it’s an opportunity for someone to step up and when you throw into the equation as well that Jordon Mutch is injured also, there’s positions there.”
Macarthur will look to build on Tomi Juric’s fitness on Wednesday, when plenty of fringe Bulls could feature.
“He’s quality, he’s a different class and he brings the level of everyone around him up,” Milicic said.
“We’re looking to give him some decent minutes tomorrow and at the same time hope he pulls up as well as he can so he can play on Saturday (against Western Sydney Wanderers).”
Recruit Al Hassan Toure can’t play as he is cup-tied to Adelaide United while there are question marks over the fitness of Jake Hollman and Aleksandar Jovanovic.
The game is set to go ahead as planned despite Sydney FC having a player test positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday.
Meanwhile the A-Leagues confirmed Macarthur would be able to return to Campbelltown Stadium for their November 19 clash with Newcastle, following a successful pitch inspection on Tuesday.
The poor state of the pitch saw Macarthur’s season opener against Wellington moved to Newcastle and Sunday’s win over Central Coast played in Penrith.
“Following significant remediation work, the pitch is now at a standard suitable for professional football,” A-Leagues commissioner Greg O’Rourke said.
