Returning Sydney FC midfielder Nicky Carle has vowed to repay the club’s patience in him by producing his best form in the hope of dragging the Sky Blues season from the brink of oblivion to the Hyundai A-League finals.
The Sydney marquee man will make his first appearance in almost two months in the defending champions’ crucial clash with Melbourne Heart at the SFS on Thursday night.
Carle had a solid 45-minute hit-out with the Sky Blues Youth team on Friday night and could now be rushed straight back into the starting line-up to take on the Heart.
Having been signed by Sydney amid much fanfare as a big-money replacement for retired skipper Steve Corica it’s been an incredibly tough and frustrating campaign for the Socceroos midfielder.
A mixture of foot, hamstring and back injuries have seen the 29-year-old manage just 543 minutes of action all season.
But after finally overcoming his injury problems Carle is desperate to make up for lost time and take up the battle over the last 10 games to help the club sneak into the top six.
“With these injuries, I’ve been really unlucky with these injuries this year,” Carle said on Tuesday.
“Over the past five years I’ve been lucky that I haven’t had an injury that’s kept me out longer than one game but this season has just been one of those seasons.”
“But I’ve put my head down and done everything I could do while I was injured to get my body right.”
“I’m hoping now I can repay some of the clubs faith in bringing me back (to the A-League) by putting in some good performances.”
“I can’t wait. It’s been a real disappointing season for myself.”
“I just want to get on the park and hopefully do as best I can to help the team out and turn around my season as well.”
Carle’s return is a rare piece of good news for the club that have seen their mini mid-season revival quashed in recent weeks with three straight defeats.
After one stage being back within one point of the play-off places, the Sky Blues are now one place off the bottom and seven points adrift with time and matches fast running out.
“We all know it’s a crucial stage of the season, we can’t keep saying ‘oh there still lots of games left’,” Carle said.
“There’s only 10 games to go now and we know what we need to make the finals.”
“That’s our goal, we’ve still got plenty of belief we can do that. It’s about getting results and doing that quickly.”
“The players are definitely there but for whatever reason it hasn’t really worked yet.”
“But there’s a lot of potential in the change room and if we do turn it on we can be a very dangerous side.”
Whether Carle does come straight back into the starting side could depend on the fitness of striker Alex Brosque, who is still battling a hamstring injury.
Brosque had a light session away from the squad on Tuesday and will need to complete the side’s final session on Wednesday to take his place.
The Heart clash will be the first time last season’s championship heroes Clint Bolton, Simon Colosimo and John Aloisi return to the club since moving to the new franchise.
“They’ve also had a tough time but we saw their last game in Adelaide and they worked very hard and they changed the game a few minutes before the end very quickly. It will be a tough game against them,” Lavicka said.
“It will be interesting for all of us, for all football fans to see players like Clint Bolton, like Simon Colosimo, like Johnny Aloisi back.”
“They are opponents now but they are still friends. We will fight very hard in this match but we’ll stay friends.”
