Jacob Burns and Shane Smeltz are both set to play their part on Saturday night against Wellington Phoenix.
Perth Glory coach Ian Ferguson has confirmed Jacob Burns and Shane Smeltz are set to return on Saturday night against Wellington Phoenix.
“Shane came back on Tuesday night and we got a good session out of him on Wednesday,” Ferguson said, “and Jacob’s been back in training now for quite a while.
“I’d like to speak to the players first about who’s in and who’s out, but there’s a fair possibility Jacob will be back in from the start.
“To be honest we’ve missed that drive that he brings.
“With Shane, I think because of the injury he’s only started one game for us and he’s been away with the national team as well, so it’s been a bit disruptive for him and us. “But he’s our marquee player and we do want to get him back playing.
“He’s the top scorer in A-League history and we’ve got to get him out there, get some game time into him and get some goals out of him.”
Phoenix will head to nib Stadium buoyed by last weekend’s resounding 3-0 win at Newcastle and Ferguson is expecting the Kiwi outfit to provide a stern test for his charges.
“It’s going to be a difficult game,” he said, “because they have players that can hurt you.
“(Jeremy) Brockie’s on fire at the moment and (Paul) Ifill looks as if he’s coming back into form as well.
“They’ve got (Andrew) Durante and (Ben) Sigmund back together at the heart of the defence and (Manny) Muscat sitting just in front, so they are a very solid unit.
“They were bottom of the league and now they’ve jumped up to sixth spot and they’ll be coming here full of confidence.
“They are a quality side as they showed against Newcastle last week.”
PERTH GLORY v WELLINGTON PHOENIX
THIS Saturday, November 24
nib Stadium
Kick-off: 6.45pm
Live and exclusive broadcast on FOX Sports 1HD
ABC Radio broadcast: 720 Perth and Local Radio WA Grandstand Digital and Online.
Join the conversation on Twitter using the hash-tag #PGvNIX
To purchase tickets visit www.aleague.com.au/tickets
Perth Glory squad:1.Danny Vukovic (gk), 3.Bas van den Brink, 4.Billy Mehmet, 5.Steve Pantelidis, 6.Nick Ward, 7.Jacob Burns (c), 9.Shane Smeltz, 10.Liam Miller, 11.Adrian Zahra, 13.Travis Dodd, 14.Steven McGarry, 15.Brandon O-Neill, 17.Chris Harold, 18.Jesse Makarounas, 19.Josh Risdon, 21.Scott Jamieson, 22.Ndumba Makeche, 23.Michael Thwaite, 30 Lewis Italiano (gk)
*four to be omitted
Ins:7.Jacob Burns (returns from injury) 9.Shane Smeltz, 18.Jesse Makarounas, 15.Bradon O-Neill, 22.Ndumba Makeche (all promoted)
Outs:8.Dean Heffernan (back – 1 week)
Unavailable:12.Ryo Nagai (bone bruising knee 4-6 weeks), 16.Evan Berger (hamstring – indefinite)
