Matt McKay is hoping to return with a vengeance and help Brisbane Roar earn local bragging rights when Gold Coast United travel to Suncorp Stadium on Saturday.
The midfielder, sidelined since the end of August with a knee injury, has trained for the past two weeks and is a chance of returning to the field in time for Sunday’s clash.
With a number of key midfielders missing for the clash, McKay said he was eager to return to the fold and help Brisbane get a bit of payback for the Coast’s derby triumph in Round 1.
“I’m desperate to play,” the Brisbane-born Socceroo said. “I hate being out and I’m really looking forward to hopefully playing this weekend.”
“We lost (the match in round one) and then went on a good run of six games or so without losing.”
“They’ve got a few players out, we’ve got a few players out, so it’s going to be interesting.”
“It’ll test the depth of both squads and hopefully we’ll get the result.”
Roar coach Frank Farina said he was waiting to see how McKay travelled throughout the rest of the week before including him in the squad.
“If he gets through the whole week without a problem I’ll make a decision on Saturday,” Farina said. “Matty’s always keen but the last thing we want to do is risk him too early and he re-injures it.”
“He’s been out for six weeks or so, so he’ll definitely be underdone.”
More positive news for Farina will be the return of Young Socceroos Tommy Oar, Mitch Nichols and Luke DeVere, who trained with the squad this morning after returning from the U20 World Cup in Egypt.
“It’s most probably vital that they did come back,” Farina said.
“Losing both Danny (Tiatto) and Charlie (Miller) on top of Craig (Moore) and Henrique, on top of everyone else that’s missing, it’s good to have them back and they’re fit.”
