Canberra United co-captain Lydia Williams believes her side has enough depth to cover the growing list of injures when they take on the Brisbane Roar on Saturday in a grand final rematch.
Canberra United co-captain Lydia Williams believes her side has enough depth to cover the growing list of injures when they take on the Brisbane Roar on Saturday in a grand final rematch.
With three starting defenders likely to be sidelined for the Round Six fixture, the unfortunate situation has given some of the squads younger players an opportunity to step up for the challenge.
“We-re going to be struggling a bit with injuries but we have such a good line up within our squad that we can utilize all of them,” Williams said.
“Obviously we-ve had a bit of a loss with some of the players in the team at the moment but playing in front of a home crowd and against Brisbane Roar is always a big boost for us.”
Defenders Lin Chiung Ying has been ruled out of the rest of the season after rupturing her ACL against the Central Coast on the weekend, Ellyse Perry is unavailable due to cricket commitments and Ellie Brush is fighting to be fit after suffering an ankle injury.
Should Brush not recover in time, Williams is ready to step up her game and take control of the makeshift young backline.
I-m up for the challenge,” Williams said.
“If [Ellie Brush] is out then I-ll probably have to step my game up a little bit more but I-m not thinking about that just yet.”
“I have to worry about my own game first before I start worrying about anyone elses.”
The injury to Lin will give defender Rebecca Kiting the opportunity to slot back into the centre back position, a role she-s played with the Westfield Young Matildas.
“I-m just focusing on my game, working really hard at training,” Kiting said.
“I-ll probably be playing centre back this weekend so I-m just preparing to get back into that role again.”
Having just returned from injury, Kiting is preparing to make just her second start for the club this season.
“Second game back starting for me so there will be a lot of pressure because there will be a lot of new girls coming into defence but we should be able to step up to the challenge,” Kiting said.
“I played centre back for the Young Matildas during our qualifiers so I-m pretty comfortable playing in that position.”
“I-m up for the challenge and I think that I-m mentally prepared to get going this weekend.”
The injuries have come at a bad time for Canberra United with Kiting believing that the squad was just starting to play some of its best football as the side moved from the bottom of the table into striking distance of the top four.
With a three game undefeated streak, Canberra United is confident heading into this weekend-s as it prepares to avenge last year-s grand final loss despite the side being ravaged by injury.
“I think we-re improving every game and hopefully we can take that into this weekend-s game,” Kiting said.
“We-re a little disappointed with the last result we had against Brisbane so we-re back for a bit of revenge.
Canberra United host the Brisbane Roar in a Westfield W-League Grand Final rematch at McKellar Park on Saturday, 7th November to be televised live on ABC 1 and ABC HD from 3:00pm.
Tickets for the much anticipated fixture are available through Capital Football and at the gate.
