Perth Glory youth will be bolstered by the return of influential central midfielder Hayden Doyle this week, as the squad embarks on a road double that sees them play two games in three days.
Perth Glory youth will be bolstered by the return of influential central midfielder Hayden Doyle this week, as the squad embarks on a road double that sees them play two games in three days.
The Glory young guns will go head-to-head with Melbourne Victory at Epping Stadium on Sunday before heading to Adelaide to face the Reds in their mid-week round on Tuesday.
Doyle, who hasn-t played since round 20 last year after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his knee, is a massive inclusion for the squad that is looking to maintain an eight match unbeaten run.
The 20-year-old says he has enjoyed being among his teammates again can-t wait to get back on the pitch.
“It-s great to be back. It-s mainly just good to be back with the boys and to be part of the team again.
“It-s good to be training, being back on the ball and just playing football.
“I-ve missed it a lot so I-m feeling pretty good at the moment,” Doyle said.
Since undergoing an operation on his injury in July, Doyle has been involved in an intense rehabilitation program to get him back in the squad-s line-up.
“It-s been a long, long process to come back but I-ve been setting myself short term goals which have made it a lot easier on me.
“I started off in the pool and then I worked my way into walking and running again, then gradually built up to twisting and turning and then kicking the ball and playing,” he said.
Doyle-s return sees him play in the youth squad-s road double, the second stop being Adelaide, his home town.
“I-ve spoken to my parents and my family over there so they-ll all be coming to watch.
“It-s always good going back to Adelaide to play because I-ve got a lot of history there and I know most of the boys so it-s always exciting, but I just want to beat them. It-s always nice to beat Adelaide,” he added.
To keep himself involved in football, Doyle has been working closely with Perth Glory-s community department to co-ordinate various football programmes and events.
“I-ve been doing a lot of community work for Glory over the past few months, like running coaching clinics at schools and doing some promotional work.
“Obviously when you-re injured you can-t train as much so it-s really good to keep that involvement with the club and with football in general,” Doyle said.
Commenting on Perth-s exceptional form at the minute, Doyle says it will be difficult coming into a successful and established side, but believes he can prove himself and be a positive feature of the youth outfit.
“It-s going to be hard coming back into a team that hasn-t lost a game in 10 rounds and has won 8 of those 10; they-re doing really well.
“It-s going to be hard to get back in there but I-m confident that I can and I think after a couple of games I-ll definitely be an asset to the team.
“We-re all just really pumped for the next couple of games and confident we can get the wins and top the table,” Doyle said.
National Youth League 2009- Rd 20
Melbourne Victory v Perth Glory
Sunday, 17 January 2010 at Epping Stadium, Melbourne
Local Kick-off: 1.00pm (AWST)
Referee: Kevin Docherty
Coverage: from 12.30pm (AWST) on information radio 990am.
Perth Glory Squad: Tommy AMPHLETT, Ludovic BOI, Hayden DOYLE, Tim DOYLE (gk), Cameron EDWARDS, Dean EVANS, Steve HESKETH, Sam MITCHINSON, Alex PEARSON (gk), Ryan PEARSON, David PRICE, Joshua RISDON, Anthony SKORICH, Glen TRIFIRO, Reece VITTIGLIA
Unavailable: Million BUTSHIIRE (knee – 6 weeks), Howard FONDYKE (suspended – 1 week), Brent GRIFFITHS (suspended – 1 week)
Melbourne Victory: Matthew DEMO, Diogo FERREIRA, Petar FRANJIC, Stephen HATZIKOSTAS, Antonio LA VERDE, Sebastian MATTEI (gk), Bradley NORTON, Luke PILKINGTON, Stefaan SARDELIC (gk), David STIRTON, Craig SWEENEY, Simon TOLLI, Tedros YABIO
*two to be included
Unavailable: Nil
