John Aloisi is set to welcome Jacob Tratt back into his side for Sunday evening’s Isuzu UTE A-League Men Round 6 clash against Adelaide United.
Tratt hasn’t featured for the Green and Black since injuring his hamstring in the Round 2 defeat to Western Sydney Wanderers and is poised to make his return.
After his brilliant display in Round 1 against Melbourne City, Tratt’s inclusion will be a big boost to United’s defence with his experience and versatility across the back line.
Kane Vidmar has been excellent at centre-back since Tratt dropped out of the side and the Adelaide-born youngster will be working to keep his place and feature against his hometown club.
The 19-year-old came off the bench in that Wanderers clash and has played the full 90 minutes in the following two fixtures, looking every bit the natural in his first senior professional outings.
Nikita Rukavytsya featured as a substitute in the last two matches, making his home debut last time out against Newcastle Jets.
The electric centre forward has looked threatening in his limited minutes so far and as he continues to build his fitness, the Socceroo will be eager to increase his work load and aim for a first start of the campaign.
Alongside Rukavytsya, Noah Botic has returned from another successful international window where he scored twice for the Olyroos in a friendly win against Saudi Arabia.
Botic and Rukavytsya are yet to take to the pitch together this season and could form a deadly partnership if given the chance to do so on Sunday.
Daniel Penha was unfortunate not to score his first Western United goal last time out against Newcastle Jets and will be chasing that milestone again this week.
As always there is plenty of competition in United’s attacking third with Ramy Najjarine, Lachie Wales and Riku Danzaki joining Penha in battling for starts.
James Donachie continues to recover from the calf injury that his kept him out of the start to the season, with the centre-back eying a return to the team shortly.
Full Western United extended squad
Western United squad: 1. Tom HEWARD-BELLE (gk), 6. Tomoki IMAI, 7. Ramy NAJJARINE, 8. Lachie WALES, 9. Michael RUHS, 10. Steven LUSTICA, 11. Daniel PENHA, 13. Nikita RUKAVYTSYA, 17. Ben GARUCCIO, 19. Josh RISDON, 21. Sebastian PASQUALI, 22. Kane VIDMAR, 24. Connor O’TOOLE, 27. Jacob TRATT, 32. Angus THURGATE, 33. Matt SUTTON (gk), 38. Noah BOTIC, 39. Matthew GRIMALDI, 42. Rhys BOZINOVSKI, 77. Riku DANZAKI
Ins: 27. Jacob TRATT (returns from injury), 42. Rhys BOZINOVSKI
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 4. James DONACHIE (injured)
Match Details
Isuzu UTE A-League Men Round 5
Western United vs Adelaide United
Sunday, 26 November
Kick-off: 5:00pm AEDT
Mars Stadium, Ballarat
Broadcast: The match will be broadcast live on Paramount+