Melbourne Victory defender Matthew Kemp remains in doubt for Friday night’s match against Wellington after suffering a groin injury in last week’s win over Gold Coast.
Although the Victory expect him to take his place in the starting line-up, Kemp has a minor adductor tear and was restricted to light duties at Tuesday’s training session.
The news isn’t as good for Evan Berger, who will be out of action for 4-6 weeks with a hamstring strain, while Grant Brebner was cleared of any break to his ankle but is still expected to miss up to six weeks with a significant lateral ligament tear in the joint.
Tom Pondeljak and Surat Sukha come into the squad, while Matt Foschini will travel with the team as cover for Kemp.
Positions are hard to come by in the Victory line-up, but former Brisbane Roar striker Robbie Kruse appears to have grabbed his chance after playing his first full game last week and scoring in the 4-0 demolition of Gold Coast and he was happy to have finally found the back of the net.
“It was good, it’s been playing on my mind for a bit – not having scored – so finally to score it’s a good feeling and to get the three points is even better,” he said.
“At the end there I started to run out of legs, but to get the full 90 under my belt is good so if I can hopefully get another 90 in Wellington … my fitness is getting better, it’s nowhere near full but I’m slowly getting there.”
Kruse has had an interrupted start to his Melbourne career since crossing over from Brisbane, with a hamstring injury sidelining him for three weeks, but he is confident the injuries are a thing of the past.
“I’ve always had these little hiccups come along, but I’m finally over that now and hopefully over this injury and hopefully I can keep working on my partnership with Archie at training and it worked a bit on Saturday night so hopefully we can press forward and get a few more wins together,” he said.
Kruse knows he has to be at his best every week or he risks getting demoted with Nick Ward performing superbly since his return from injury and Pondeljak and Mate Dugandzic waiting in the wings.
“There’s a lot of depth here at Melbourne so if you play one bad game you could be out of the team, so it’s good competition, it’s a good headache for (coach) Ernie (Merrick) and the coaching staff to have, so hopefully I can keep building on the partnership that I had with Archie (Thompson) on the weekend and get another win,” he added.
The Victory also received some welcome news ahead of this weekend’s clash with young midfielder Leigh Broxham signing a new three-year deal with the club.
