The Newcastle Jets have been hit with further injury news following their Round of 16 FFA Cup fixture with Melbourne City.
The already undermanned Jets saw injuries to Dimi Petratos and Ivan Vujica, while Nigel Boogaard was struck down with a virus.
Ernie Merrick was without Ben Kantarovski (calf), Johnny Koutroumbis (hamstring), Joe Champness (foot surgery) and Roy O’Donovan (suspension) for the pre-season fixture.
Petratos took a knock from Dario Vidosic when challenging for the ball in the first half, and the midfielder struggled through the rest of the game with an ankle injury.
“Dimi rolled his ankle early on when he tangled with (Dario) Vidosic,” Merrick said.
“He pushed through the rest of the game but was visibly hampered by his ankle injury.”
Petratos was due to join a Socceroo’s training camp in Turkey under new coach, Graham Arnold and will have further assessment and scans before being cleared to join the squad.
Ivan Vujica wore a ball to face at very close range in the dying stages of the match and has been diagnosed with a bruised retina and bleeding in the front of his eye.
“It was a powerful strike from close range and Ivan did tremendously well to finish the game – he’s a very tough character,” Merrick added.
“He’s been assessed by a specialist overnight and was deemed safe to fly home, but will be required to rest over the next week or so to manage the injury and avoid any long term complications.”
Nigel Boogaard has also been struck down by a virus and will be out of action for a few days.
“Nigel probably went into the game not feeling quite himself, but again, another tough character who leads from the front,” Merrick said.
“He’s been extremely unwell since the end of the game, so he’ll take the weekend to get himself back to 100%.”
In other news, the Club is closing in on two signings set bolster Ernie Merrick’s squad for the Hyundai A-League 2018/19 season.
“Joel Griffiths and Lawrie McKinna are working very hard on a couple of really important signings for us,” Merrick said.
“In these situations there’s always a lot of external pressure to make signings, but we’re focused on bringing in the best players for us.
“We’ve got a settled squad with ten of our starting Grand Final eleven returning this season, these new additions will help cover some of the players we currently have unavailable.
“Things are progressing well and I’m sure we will have more to say in the coming days.”
