Melbourne Heart coach John van ‘t Schip looks set to call upon Josip Skoko and Rutger Worm for Saturday night’s Derby showdown against Melbourne Victory.
Both players missed Heart’s 1-1 home draw with Gold Coast on Wednesday night, but are expected to come in for what the Dutchman has described as a must-win game at Etihad Stadium.
“Josip had a little bit of soreness after the game in Perth, he’s going okay and I hope we make use of him on Saturday,” van ‘t Schip said.
“Rutger is having a bit of a problem physically, that’s why we gave him a little rest today. He could be available, so hopefully he can be fit on time. If he’s able to play 90 minutes we have to see.”
“We will need fit players on Saturday, you have a few you can take a little bit of a risk, but not too much because there is only three players you have available on the bench.”
The draw with Miron Bleiberg’s men at AAMI Park saw Heart climb back into sixth place, but their best way of not making it a temporary stay in the top six is by beating their crosstown rivals as van ‘t Schip explained.
“Every game now is big, we have to win that game (against Victory), it’s a six-point game,” van ‘t Schip said.
“If we don’t win and play a draw then nothing happens then as well, we’ll still have a game more played (than Victory) and a point behind, it’s important we make a win there.”
The current scramble for the last two playoff places is as follows:
Melbourne Victory are fifth with 33 points from 25 matches, one point ahead of Heart, who have 32 points from 26 matches. Heart are one point ahead of the Newcastle Jets who have 31 points but have two matches in hand over their Victorian rival, having played just 24 games, while Wellington Phoenix have 29 points from 24 matches.
In more possible selection news ahead of the Derby, Brazilian Alex Terra and mercurial Dutchman Gerald Sibon both came off on 78 minutes in the draw with Gold Coast.
Terra appeared to be icing a hamstring, while Sibon went straight up the tunnel, but van ‘t Schip is hopeful both will be available for the Victory clash.
“It looks like he’s (Terra) okay now, but that was the same in the past and the next day he had some problems,” van ‘t Schip said.
“Gerald had a little bit of stiffness and soreness, he hasn’t played a full game for a long time because of his injury just before Christmas. He’s getting more and more rhythm and like Alex played more than 75 – we have to see how both pull up Friday.”
One man who won’t be in any doubt for the Derby is captain Simon Colosimo, who got through the full 90 minutes against Gold Coast in his first game back from a calf injury and is looking forward to the challenges the Derby will provide.
“We’ve been doing it for a month, every game we’ve come into we know we need to perform well, but more importantly get a result,” Colosimo said.
“If you look at our last five games, we’ve got 11 from 15 points – we’ve got to go into every game with that frame of mind where we’ve got to believe and win.”
“There’s no doubt that we’re going to go out there on Saturday and not worry about what the table says, but worry that we’ve got 90 minutes of football where we have to match them in every department and hopefully come out on top.”
