Sydney FC skipper Alex Brosque expects to be fit to face Adelaide United

SYDNEY FC captain Alex Brosque is confident he will be fit to travel to Adelaide on Friday night, as the Sky Blues bid to build on their first win in five games.

Alex Brosque of Sydney FC celebrates his goal during the round 9 A-League match between Sydney FC and the Newcastle Jets at Allianz Stadium in Sydney, Friday, Dec. 4, 2015. (AAP Image/Dean Lewins) NO ARCHIVING, EDITORIAL USE ONLY

SYDNEY FC captain Alex Brosque is confident he will be fit to travel to Adelaide on Friday night, as the Sky Blues bid to build on their first win in five games.

Brosque limped off after scoring the winner over Newcastle on Friday night, delight at his 50th A-League goal tempered by an apparent hamstring injury that curtailed his evening.

But after having scans on Saturday morning, Brosque said he was more hopeful of playing next weekend, aiming to add to the three goals that make him the club’s leading scorer this season.

Though the results of his scan won’t be known until Monday, Brosque said the initial advice was that his injury was more severe cramp than anything.

“The doctor said he thought it was just a bit of a strain, and it’s feeling quite good,” he said.

“When I first came off I thought I was a big doubt for Adelaide, but if it’s cramp effectively then I think I’ll have a good chance of being fit. It’s sore but it often is after cramp, so I’m hopeful.”

Brosque revealed that he had taken marquee forward Filip Holosko aside after the game, to bolster his confidence in the wake of four gilt-edged chances that the Slovakian missed.

Moved to the point of Sydney’s attack in a rejigged forward line, Holosko hit the post and was denied several times by Jets goalkeeper Mark Birighitti.

“It was tough for him to take, but I pointed out that last week it happened to me, I hit the post and missed a couple of really good ones then — and he’s more than experienced enough to know you get these games,” Brosque said.

“The chances he had were the kind of chances that we’ve really not been creating in the past few weeks, in fact we probably made more chances against Newcastle than the past few weeks put together.

“He’ll keep his head up, and probably score a hat-trick next week.”

Brosque feels the twinge during the win against Newcastle.

Brosque also spoke to his teammates before the game, to emphasise the importance of a mini slump becoming full-blown.

It was Sydney’s first win in five games, and only their third goal in that series, and Brosque said the Sky Blues had been determined to avoid a repeat of last year’s mid-season struggles.

“I said to the boys that we weren’t at as bad a stage as we went through last year but it was important we didn’t get to that,” Brosque said.

“It was so important to get back to winning ways, and it means that after a third of the season we have 16 points which is a decent tally.

“There’s still work to be done, but we can build on this for the next nine games, and build on the confidence we took from beating Newcastle. The way we played in the first half particularly was great, it felt like we dominated the game and there was a better cohesion in our attacking play.”

Originally published as Sydney FC skipper Alex Brosque expects to be fit to face Adelaide United