By Murray Wenzel
The impending arrival of Robbie Kruse’s second child could delay his Brisbane Roar homecoming in a crucial clash with Central Coast.
The 10th-placed Roar are winless from their last five A-League Men games and have managed just two goals in that span ahead of the Friday’s clash in Redcliffe.
The 34-year-old Socceroo Kruse was not sighted at Thursday’s training session.Credit:Getty Images
Winger Kruse was expected to play a role off the bench in his return to the side where it all began for him in 2007.
But with his child’s birth imminent, the 34-year-old was not sighted at Thursday’s training session.
“We were hoping to use him tomorrow, still are, but these kind of things don’t come along very often and we wish him all the best,” coach Warren Moon said of the 75-times-capped Socceroo.
Moon also said mid-season recruit Stefan Scepovic would be a game-day decision after touching down on Tuesday.
“We’ll see how he pulls up … we’ll look to get him involved,” he said of the eight-time Serbian international striker.
“We need to score goals and that’s what he’s here to do … hopefully we can get him on the park.”
The Mariners (7-2-6) are third while the Roar (3-7-5) are three wins outside the top six that will contest finals, and still kicking themselves after a 2-1 loss in Adelaide last weekend.
“All I can go off is the performance; we played really well,” Moon said.
“We created double the chances, all the big opportunities came our way and we didn’t take them.
“That’s been the story of our season … the time is now that we have to start taking those opportunities or we’re not going to be playing finals.
“It’s time for us to go on a run and we’re confident we can do that.”
The 33-year-old Scepovic has scored more than 100 goals for clubs in his homeland, Italy, Belgium, Israel, Spain, Scotland, Hungary, Poland, Japan and Cyprus.
Scepovic won both the Scottish Premiership and Scottish League Cup while playing for Celtic between 2014 and 2016.
He said he was aware of the Mariners’ Scotland-born, Socceroos cult hero Jason Cummings’ skills, but not his cheek.
“I remember him … he was scoring goals over there; he’s a good striker and we need to keep an eye on him,” Scepovic said.
“But I don’t remember about that (Cummings’ penchant for on-field verbals); we will see on the pitch.”
