Melbourne City coach Rado Vidosic is confident goalkeeper Tom Glover won’t be hindered by any mental scars when he lines up in front of Melbourne Victory fans for the first time since being attacked in a violent pitch invasion.
Glover was left dazed and bloodied after having a metal bucket thrown at his head when about 150 Victory fans stormed the pitch on December 17.
The match had to be abandoned, with Glover taken to hospital.
The two teams will lock horns again next Saturday night at AAMI Park in what is a Victory home match.
Although the active supporter bay areas have been shut down for Victory home games for the rest of the season, the group involved in December’s pitch invasion have encouraged their members to start attending matches again by sitting in different parts of the stadium.
Glover is set to don the gloves on Saturday night and Vidosic isn’t worried about the star goalkeeper’s mindset.
“He’s fantastic from that point of view. Nothing really bothers him,” Vidosic said.
“I don’t think there’s going to be any problems with him. But obviously we will talk with him and see if there is something that we need to address.
“But from experience … there won’t be too much that we need to do, especially with him.”
Vidosic says his group has moved on from the drama of December’s pitch invasion.
“We put that aside a long time ago. We don’t talk about it anymore,” he said.
“Whatever happened that game is not going to happen again. There’s no point in talking about it.
“All we can do is go out and perform and do our best. It’s going to be a cracking game and hopefully we can get a lot of supporters to come and watch.”
City moved eight points clear on top of the table after posting a 4-2 victory over 10-man Perth Glory at Macedonia Park on Saturday night.
Scores were locked at 2-2 when star Socceroos striker Mathew Leckie broke Glory’s spirits with a mesmerising bicycle kick goal in the 76th minute.
Vidosic was also impressed by left-back Jordan Bos, who scored the opener with a beautiful curling strike after beating two Glory defenders.
He wants the 20-year-old playing for the Socceroos in the near future.
“I hope (Socceroos coach) Graham Arnold will bring him in, just to have a good look at him,” Vidosic said.
“He’s such a good young talent and I hope he gets called up for the national team because I think he can really shake up that left full-back position with his speed and directness and his dribbling and creativity.”
