Ricki Herbert
Wellington Phoenix coach Ricki Herbert will stick with
team that beat Newcastle Jets 3-0 last week for tonight's match
with Perth Glory at NIB Stadium.
Belgian international striker Stein Huysegems has fully
recovered from the ankle injury that kept him out of the Jets
game but will start on the bench.
"Stein is fine and has come through the last three days
training without a problem," Herbert said. "We will ease him
back into it and coming off the bench means he will go
whatever distance we need.
"Those who played last week did a great job and I'm confident
they will do the same again here."
It means Herbert will stick with the same 4-3-3 formation he
used against Newcastle, which was a deviation from the
4-1-3-2 employed for the opening games of the season. Vince
Lia will be pressed into action again alongside Manny Muscat
and Alex Smith, with Jeremy Brockie, Paul Ifill and Louis
Fenton up front.
The only concern for Herbert is Benji Totori who caused chaos
among the Jets defence when he went on as a substitute in
Newcastle. Totori rolled an ankle during training on Thursday
and sat out yesterday's session at the match venue.
"We will give Benji every chance but it doesn't look
promising at the moment," Herbert said.
The Phoenix will need to be at their best against a Perth
Glory side that has started the A-League campaign well before
surprisingly being beaten 1-0 by Western Sydney last week.
Wellington Phoenix: Mark Paston, Leo Bertos, Andrew Durante,
Ben Sigmund, Tony Lochhead, Manny Muscat, Vince Lia, Alex
Smith, Louis Fenton, Paul Ifill, Jeremy Brockie. Substitutes
(from): Tyler Boyd, Ricardo Clarke, Glen Moss, Benji Totori.
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