Injuries ´no big deal´, says Kosmina

Adelaide United coach John Kosmina denies there is a soft tissue injury crisis developing at the club despite another injury on Friday.

Striker Bruce Djite was on the field for 60 seconds before he strained his groin and had to be substituted in the 3-2 victory over Perth Glory at Hindmarsh Stadium.

The substitution surprisingly worked in Adelaide’s favour as Djite’s replacement Jeronimo Neumann scored a first-half double to ignite the Reds before Iain Ramsay bagged a third after half-time to put the game just beyond Perth’s reach despite the visitors’ two late goals.

Djite’s injury soured the victory for United who already have foreign duo Marcelo Carrusca (groin) and Fabio Ferreira (groin), and defender Nigel Boogaard (hamstring) in the treatment room with soft tissue damage.

Although Djite is expected to spend some time on the sidelines, Kosmina was not concerned his squad was thinning out as they approach the home stretch.

“You get niggles this time of the year, it’s no big deal. We will sort them out,” Kosmina said.

“Bruce is a strange one. He’s had a lot of issues with groin tightness on the other side so eventually there’s a bit of imbalance.

“Marcelo’s had nothing to do with conditioning, it was the circumstances. He went to block a shot and it hit him. It was a collision incident like an impact injury.

“Fab’s got a bit of early osteitis (pubis), he had that at the start of the season, and that’s because he came in under cooked and we played catch up with him.

“But Fabio will be back sooner rather than later, and so will Bruce.”

With Jeronimo the only other recognised forward beyond Djite in the squad, Kosmina hinted he may recall forgotten man Sergio van Dijk.

Van Dijk has made just three appearances in the A-League this season with the last of those coming in the 2-1 loss to Central Coast on December 1.

“We’ve got plenty of depth (in attack). We’ve got Awer (Mabil) who came on (against Perth), we’ve got Evan (Kostopoulos), we’ve got Rambo (Ramsay) and they’re all fit,” Kosmina said.

“But it (Djite’s injury) does put Serge in the frame if he doesn’t go to Indonesia.

“He’s playing in the youth team on Sunday just to keep him up to speed.

“All other things being equal he will be in the squad next week.”