Adelaide United will welcome back two of its most dangerous attacking stars with Argentine playmaker, Marcos Flores and the explosive Young Socceroo Matthew Leckie set to start for the Reds’ clash against Wellington Phoenix.
Flores injured his hamstring a fortnight ago in United’s 2-1 win over Sydney FC and looked set for at least a month on the sidelines before a speedy recovery saw the midfield maestro only miss last week’s clash against the Gold Coast.
Leckie meanwhile had been in China with the Young Socceroos but returned during the week and resumed full training on Thursday.
Reds assistant coach Phil Stubbins said he expects both Flores and Leckie to start and star against the Phoenix.
“Yeah, he’s (Marcos) come through. He’s trained over the last couple of days with the team,” he said.
“We’ve had no ill-effects from that so at this stage Marcos looks very good for a starting spot. Leckie has come through. Obviously he’s come back from the trip to China, and done a great job for himself as Mark Birighitti has, representing the club over there for Australia.”
“Leckie hopefully will come back in and be what he has been all season for us and that’s a live wire and someone that we look to, to be a game breaker for us.”
Stubbins led training on Thursday in the absence of Reds coach Rini Coolen, who skipped the session with an apparent stomach bug.
Stubbins said Coolen would be fit for Friday’s match, despite remaining away from the group for ‘precautionary reasons.’
“At this stage I think he just got a bit of a tummy upset and I think he’ll be here,” he said.
“I think it was just precautionary this morning. I think that was the main concern this morning so we’ve got him off to the doctors and hopefully the medical staff give him a clean bill of health.”
The Reds assistant denied United are focussed on setting a new record of 13 consecutive games without defeat, acknowledging there’s no room for a lapse in concentration.
“We’ve not really got that in our sights,” he said.
“We’re certainly focussed on Wellington who are going to be a strong opposition for us. If we don’t put up a strong performance ourselves, football, it can slap you in the face now and again.”
Stubbins admitted United face a ‘stern test’ from Wellington and said he expects them to be going toe-to-toe with the Reds.
He described their home record as ‘formidable’ but said United have the wood over the Phoenix at Hindmarsh, with the visitors recording a draw and three loses in their four meetings in Adelaide.
“Wellington are a strong outfit. Their record at home certainly suggests that they’re a formidable team at home,” he said.
“They’ve had their troubles and issues in terms of the travel coming across the ditches they have to do. Hopefully they’re tired from that, they’ve had a short turnaround as well and we’ve always done well at Hindmarsh against them.”
“I think tomorrow will be a stern test for us and hopefully we’ve got the confidence and the things in place to get the three points. I think they’ve got some very good players in their team from an offensive point of view. I think they’ll be coming over with their gloves on and trying to punch glove for glove.”
