Perth Glory are growing increasingly confident that central midfield duo Liam Miller and Jacob Burns will both be fit for the club’s Hyundai A-League finals campaign.
Perth Glory are growing increasingly confident that central midfield duo Liam Miller and Jacob Burns will both be fit for the club’s Hyundai A-League finals campaign.
Miller hasn’t played since picking up an injury in the Glory’s win over Newcastle on February 18 while Burns has been sidelined since suffering bruised ribs in the victory against Central Coast on March 11.
Despite saying Miller faced a race against time to overcome a nagging back injury and be ready for Perth’s first final on April 1 a week ago, coach Ian Ferguson said on Friday the Irishman and Burns had both made progress.
“That’s a little bit more positive at this time. We’re hoping that they’ll be ready for the following game [in the first week of the finals],” he said.
But both Burns and Miller, the Glory’s regular central midfield combination, will be forced to watch from the sidelines for Saturday’s vital match against Melbourne Victory at nib Stadium.
While a win won’t guarantee Perth finish third, a position which would ensure they wouldn’t have to travel until the preliminary final should they make it that far, it would make Wellington’s task of overtaking them much more difficult.
The fourth-placed Phoenix, who play league leaders Central Coast on Sunday, are level with the Glory on 40 points and with a +3 goal difference, with the only thing separating the two sides Perth’s advantage in goals scored.
Their task against the Victory will be tough though, with Dean Heffernan suspended, Josh Mitchell left out of the initial squad with a back complaint and Scott Neville and Andrezinho also in doubt.
“We’re down to bare essentials at the moment,” Ferguson said.
“We’re obviously looking at bringing in some young boys.”
“But we’ll still be able to put a good team out there and we’ll stick to our game plan at home. We’ve been quite successful here this year and we’ll keep going along with that.”
Neville is suffering from a back complaint unrelated to his long-term knee injury but did take part in training on Friday, while Andrezinho rolled an ankle in Perth’s heavy loss to Gold Coast on Sunday.
