Melbourne Heart striker Alex Terra has suffered another setback with his hamstring and is set to miss the next three matches including Wednesday’s clash with Newcastle Jets at AAMI Park, while defender Michael Marrone is rated only a 50-50 chance of playing.
Terra has endured a difficult season with injury and has started in just ten games this year. He left the ground at half time of Sunday’s 3-0 loss with Gold Coast with a recurrence of a hamstring tear and will be out of both Wednesday game against the Jets and Saturday’s derby against Victory.
“Alex is out. That’s one thing we know for sure. That’s a pity because every moment we think he is back, he gets this little injury and we have to wait for prognosis,” coach John van ‘t Schip said.
“Hopefully it-s not that long and we can get him fit again as quick as possible again. But it-s a big issue for us to look at that.”
Marrone also left the ground at half time on Sunday but has been named in an extended squad of 17 and will be given until game day to prove he is fit and ready.
“It seems that he is going quite well. There’s a 50 percent chance he will be involved in tomorrow’s game. We have to have a good look at him,” van ‘t Schip said.
An injury crisis, plus Wayne Srhoj’s suspension, has left Melbourne with just 17 players to pick from and that included Marrone and John Aloisi, who the coach believes is unlikely to play a part, given they want him to be fit and ready for Saturday’s match.
“We have to take it game by game (with John). It-s not that we can program three games ahead how we can manage it. We have to look at every game as a special case,” he said.
“We know that he could be, in a worst case scenario, available for tomorrow but then maybe only from the bench. For Saturday, we are looking at him being in the squad.”
Van ‘t Schip is adamant the injury crisis plus that fact Heart have now picked up one point in their past five games is not going to change the way the team plays.
“My first priority is to win the game and I don-t care if we win the game 2-1 or 3-2, as long as we win the game,” he said. “You can-t say ‘we’ll defend’ and just sit in, because you can just as easy cop a goal in that situation.”
“I think we should stick to the way we play, be aggressive, play the football we want to play and believe that we are going to start scoring.”
