Perth Glory Captain Jamie Coyne will miss the next three matches after scans revealed two small tears in his left calf.
Perth Glory Captain Jamie Coyne will miss the next three matches after scans revealed two small tears in his left calf.
Coyne felt some soreness after the Glory’s 3-1 win over Melbourne last Saturday night and was unable to train on Monday.
Further examinations revealed the extent of the injury and the 27-year-old will be required to rest for at least the next fortnight.
He will miss the club’s next two away matches against Wellington and Sydney and is unlikely to recover in time for the Boxing Day clash with Adelaide at home.
Coyne’s been in good form in the club’s midfield and is disappointed to be sidelined during the crucial run of games as the Glory are just four points adrift of fourth place on the Hyundai A-League table with seven matches remaining this season.
“It’s a waiting game for me now to see how it pulls up,” Coyne said on Wednesday. “(But) I can’t put too much load on the leg at the moment.”
“The whole team has hit some form and we have a lot of confidence at the moment and to miss out for the next few games is disappointing.”
“We had a great result on the weekend and need to back it up away from home.”
“As captain I desperately want to be there to help the boys, unfortunately I won’t be able to do that but I know the lads will step up and get the wins we’re looking for.”
Coyne’s absence is another blow to the Glory’s midfield after Brazilian playmaker Amaral was ruled out for the season on Monday with a hamstring strain.
However, the long injury list could see Glory coach Dave Mitchell promote either former Celtic player Marc Anthony or Scott Bulloch to the starting line-up.
Coyne could also be joined on the sidelines by Argentine midfielder Adrian Trinidad, who did not train on Wednesday and is only rated a 50-50 chance of playing after taking several knocks on his ankle during last weekend’s game.
But the skipper’s usual partner in central midfield, Wayne Srhoj appears likely to play after suffering a dislocated shoulder against Melbourne. Srhoj calmly popped it back into place and played on and has trained fully this week, while star striker Nikita Rukavytsya looks set to resume after missing last weekend with a calf injury.
Rukavytsya completed training on Wednesday and is expected to slot straight into Perth’s starting XI.
“I was disappointed that the injury kept me out but every day it is feeling better and I’m happy to be back training and it feels really good now,” said Rukavytsya.
Wellington has a major absentee of its own, however, as star midfielder Fred was forced to return to Brazil following the tragic death of his father on Tuesday.
Fred has three matches left to play of his six-week guest-player contract but it’s uncertain whether he will return to New Zealand for the remaining two games, with Phoenix management saying they were placing no pressure on the Brazilian to play those matches if he felt unable to.
