Injuries hurt Mariners
07/09/2008 3:40 PM
The Central Coast Mariners may be forced to bolster their A-League squad because of the club's early season injury dramas.
Only three games into the season and the Mariners have already lost one of their best players with attacking star Ahmad Elrich ruled out for the season after sustaining a knee injury against Queensland on Sunday night.
Elrich is one of several players on the sidelines in what has been a challenging first month of the season for the Gosford-based club.
While admitting the injuries were unfortunate, McKinna said he would 'not rush' into any decisions about new players.
"It's never good getting injuries, especially so early in the season," he said.
"But we've got a lot of talent in the squad. We'll keep our options open but we've got good depth in the squad which is proving very important."
When Elrich left the field early in the 4-2 win against the Roar, Matthew Osman came on and did a sound job.
Osman missed the bulk of last year with injury and has been improving steadily during the pre-season and early rounds of the A-League. He is now likely to feature heavily with Elrich unavailable.
Another fringe player hoping for more game time this year will be Brad Porter, who started against the Roar in place of Adrian Caceres, who had a minor back injury but is expected to return in round four next weekend.
"There's a few chances for players to grab a spot and get a good run in the team," McKinna said.