Gold Coast coach Miron Bleiberg is praying to the injury gods ahead of United’s clash with breakaway competition leaders Adelaide at Skilled Park on Sunday.
The Round 10 fixture was set to host the unveiling of the long-awaited combination of Bruce Djite and Joel Porter up front for the Gold Coast, but injury has once again cast doubt over the partnership.
With Porter set to return from the hamstring tear that has kept him sidelined since United’s Round 3 draw in Wellingon, it is Djite who has now thrown the union in doubt.
Fringe Socceroo Djite has been training with the help of cortisone injections in his ankle and is some chance to miss the match against the Reds – the club where he began his professional career as a 19-year-old.
Porter, 31, who played for his hometown Adelaide in the old NSL, will definitely be in the squad for the pivotal clash, but how he will be used remains a bit of a mystery.
“Porter is still not 100 percent so what capacity he is used on we are yet to decide,” Bleiberg said.
“Bruce (Djite) has a strain and if he is not 100 percent, Porter will definitely start. If Bruce is OK then Porter will come from the bench, and if you want to complete the questions for Adelaide … maybe I will start both of them.”
Djite, who has found the back of the net on three occasions since returning to the A-League, will be keen to take the pitch in a bid to square-up with Reds’ hitmen Sergio van Dijk and Mathew Leckie who lead the league with four goals apiece.
But after a stop-start beginning to the season United’s attack has been unable to find a lasting rhythm.
The Gold Coast players were given last weekend off and then endured a slow start to their build-up after torrential rain muddied training pitches, but Bleiberg insists he will have his men primed to face the Reds with second spot on the ladder in sight.
“Always when you play against first on the ladder you have that bit extra (spring in your step), and the fact that Adelaide is unbeaten will give our boys a bit more. And giving them the weekend off has made them even more hungry,” Bleiberg said.
“It’s like when you feed the lions … you plan it so they will be hungriest when it comes the day to fight the gladiator.”
And when Bleiberg’s lions enter the Skilled Park Colosseum, regardless of the numbers in the stands, he knows there will be plenty of people around the country cheering his men on.
“We got the blessing of all the other nine teams in the competition; everyone wants Adelaide to lose once and for all,” he said.
“And from all points of view Adelaide are due to lose, and we are at home getting stronger and stronger so this could be the time.”
