Adelaide United captain Travis Dodd denied he is carrying an injury into the top-of-the-table clash against Brisbane Roar at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night.
The winger limped from the pitch during United’s 3-0 win over Wellington after finding the back of the net and missed last week’s loss to Melbourne Victory with an Achilles injury.
Dodd admitted he could have played against Melbourne but would not have been 100 percent fit but said the week off had allowed him to fully recover for the Roar encounter.
Dodd conceded he would be introduced in the second half as an impact player, something Reds coach Rini Coolen did to great effect against the Phoenix.
“Yeah, it (the injury) has pulled up really well and during the week I got through the last two days of training and I’m available for selection,” said Dodd on Friday.
“I’ve already spoken to the coach about it and that will probably be the plan – to make an impact off the bench. I spoke to Joe Keenan if he gets a run and told him to make sure he runs them ragged for me to come on again at the end of the game and I hope it works.”
“I probably could have made myself available (last week) but I wouldn’t have been 100 percent and would have been hesitant in going for sprints and all the explosive stuff. Having that week off has put my mind at ease and I feel confident going out there tomorrow night.”
Dodd admitted the Reds were reeling from the defeat against Melbourne which has seen United temporarily lose top spot to Brisbane, although the Reds do have a game in hand.
The United captain said the side was far from ‘relieved’ after the loss but admitted now that their first defeat of the campaign was out of the way, the Reds can refocus on the task at hand.
“I think if you had asked that after the game the boys wouldn’t have been relieved with the loss,” he said.
“But yeah, it’s out of the way now, it would have been good to have kept the run going but we’re focussed now on this week and put the loss behind us and get back to our jobs.”
“It’s still early in the season and I think we’ve got a game in hand on them as well. The aim is to make the finals and we’ll see where we are at the end of the year.”
“We need to go up there and get a result first, worry about ourselves and we come back here for the Wednesday game against Perth.”
Dodd was inspirational against Wellington with a stunning performance coming on as a substitute and swinging the tide in United’s favour.
He set up team-mate Marcos Flores for the Reds’ second and found the back of the net for United’s third before celebrating in style by racing to the corner flag and taking his shirt off in front of the home crowd.
The 30-year-old admitted he was overcome with emotion and ‘showed-off’ his body after taunts about putting on weight after his spell on the sidelines, but said he had since been warned about collecting ‘silly’, needless yellow cards.
“Yeah we had a talk about that, I got my hand slapped for that. It was more to do with the yellow card, not my body – I think it’s pretty good actually,” he joked.
“At the end of the day I knew it was going to be a yellow card and I guess it was the emotion of coming back after five months and scoring in front of the home fans. I won’t do it again. Hopefully I score goals again but I won’t be taking my shirt off again.”
“I’ve got some friends in the crowd who stand in that back corner that have been giving me stick about my weight – or my perceived weight on TV anyway.”
