Melbourne Heart will go into Friday's clash with Central Coast at Gosford without wingers Rutger Worm and Alex Terra, who have been ruled out through injury.
Terra has been struggling with a groin complaint and his fitness will be assessed over the next few days while Worm has suffered tightness in his hamstring and won’t be risked for this match.
"We have two injuries, Alex and Rutger and they won’t play," coach John van 't Schip said on Thursday.
"Rutger will be missing tomorrow and maybe next week, while Alex we will have to see. We hoped he would be able to play, but it is not good enough to play. He will stay here and have treatment."
Van 't Schip will likely name an extended squad and will determine who comes in for the injured players on match day. While he is not about to change his formation, he admits he doesn’t have the exact type of players to replace the injured men.
"We'll try to stick to the formation. But some players are different as we don’t have a second Alex or second Rutger Worm. We have to fill those positions with different type of players and they will play that role in a different way," he said.
"We will have to see how we manage that and still let the players play the way we have been training and playing."
The coach admitted that early season injuries to both Terra and marquee signing Josip Skoko have been a legacy of a reduced pre-season period for both players, but that Worm's problems most likely stemmed from overwork.
Those injuries could open the door for John Aloisi to make his first start for the club, but given he has only played 20 minutes of the season so far, van 't Schip doesn’t see him playing out 90 minutes.
"We have a few choices and John is not ready to play 90 minutes. We have the choice to start with him or maybe put him in during the game. We have some decisions to make there," he said.
Michael Beauchamp is certain to return to the starting line-up after two weeks out with an ankle injury. Van 't Schip admits the Socceroos defender is not at top fitness after missing so much training, but feels he can do his job.
"He's fit. He will have some problems with getting into (the) game having missed training, but when he's fit, he's fit. He's recovered well and the doctors and the physiotherapy have cleared him," he said.