Perth Glory will be boosted by the return of marquee man Mile Sterjovski for Saturday’s trip to North Queensland after the Qantas Socceroo was a late withdrawal from the 2-1 loss to the Gold Coast.
Sterjovski had taken a knock in Perth’s 1-0 win over Adelaide in Round 10 and was given a few days’ rest in the lead-up to travelling to the Gold Coast last Friday.
He may have been wearing protective footwear on the flight but the moonboot came off for a strong training session on Saturday that convinced coach Dave Mitchell he was fit to go against United on Sunday afternoon.
But the 30-year-old was feeling particularly sore on Sunday morning and the club decided not to risk its star signing.
“Mile didn’t want to start the game and after 20 minutes have to be replaced,” Mitchell said on Monday.
“That would have disrupted our flow during the game (but) he is a team man and wanted what was best for his team-mates.”
“Mile knows his body better than anyone else and felt that he’d be able to shake off the knock, but on Sunday morning we spoke about it together and decided not to risk it.”
Sterjovski joined suspended centre-half Andy Todd on the sidelines after the former Blackburn Rovers captain was suspended for two matches after a half-time clash with Adelaide’s Scott Jamieson the previous round.
Mitchell is confident, though, that Sterjovski will return to the side that was narrowly beaten by the Gold Coast in one of the season’s best matches.
Although the first half failed to live up to the second-versus-third billing, both sides turned it on in a dramatic second period that initially saw Perth’s Todd Howarth cancel out an early Scott Neville own goal.
But a calamitous collision between two Glory defenders allowed United’s Shane Smeltz to score just 11 seconds after kick-off.
