Kennedy to miss Glory clash

Melbourne City FC striker Josh Kennedy will miss Sunday’s clash with Perth Glory through injury.

City will also be without suspended duo Jacob Melling and Kew Jaliens who have accumulated eight yellow cards throughout the duration of the season.

John van’t Schip confirmed Stefan Mauk’s addition to the squad to media at the City Football Academy, Melbourne, on Friday.

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“Josh had a little bit of a problem so he’s going to stay here and prepare himself for the Adelaide game,” van’t Schip said.

“Josh had general stiffness after the game [against Wellington], a bit more than he had in previous games. He’s training today and he looked quite good but we didn’t want to take the risk now with the long flight and then going to Adelaide and then the finals so we just want to prepare him with  a good week of training and make sure he’s prepared for Adelaide.”

City striker Josh Kennedy fights for the ball with Victory midfielder Carl Valeri.

Singaporean international Safuwan Baharudin is also unavailable due to a minor back injury. 

“Safuwan also picked up a problem this week so hopefully he can come back and prepare himself for the Reds,” van’t Schip said.

“He’s feeling a bit of tightness in his back and we just have to be careful with that.”

Van’t Schip will look to blood youth this week, with the match against Perth coming at an opportune time for the Dutchman to test the depth of his squad.

“We’ll have a few boys come in, Stefan Mauk will come in, Marc Marino will come in and we’re going to take Nick Symeoy with us so there will be a  few [young] boys who will be travelling with us.” van’t Schip said.