Cheering on his teammates from a distance does not sit well with Brisbane Roar’s injured defender Shane Stefanutto, as he has found out during the past week.
Stefanutto hasn-t played for Brisbane since the 2-0 victory over Coast Mariners on 20 October and has had to be content watching his teammates from home during Brisbane-s double away trip, which saw them travel straight from Sydney to Wellington.
While expressing his extreme delight at last night-s performance that saw the Roar leapfrog Adelaide United into top spot on the Hyundai A-League ladder, Stefanutto admitted he would have loved to be part of team that ended the Phoenix-s 24 match unbeaten streak at home.
“It is extremely frustrating, not because the boys are doing well but because I-m not a part of it,” he said.
“Sitting at home watching the boys, it-s never a nice thing to do but I-m so happy with how we-re doing and how the boys are going without me.
“24 games they hadn-t lost and we came in last night not looking like we even cared about that.
“We played really well and it was really dominant, so that-s good to see coming into a big game against Adelaide.”
After last night-s dominant performance, Stefanutto said the probability that head coach Ange Postecoglou would tinker with a winning formula for Saturday night-s top-of-the-table clash with Adelaide United was very unlikely.
Instead of letting it get the better of him, the ever-upbeat experienced defender said he would use it as an opportunity to make sure the recovery from his troublesome hamstring is as efficient as possible.
“No chance (to play this weekend) I would think at the moment,” he said.
“Definitely because of the injury and also because I haven-t been able to test myself at a training session this week either.
“I don-t think there is any point in rushing me back at the moment, the boys are doing well and it-s the boss- call anyway with what he does with the team.
“They-re doing so well at the moment so for me to have an extra week, I think that would be beneficial.”
While he may not be a part of the final 15-man squad for Saturday-s fixture, the 30-year-old backed whoever takes the field for Brisbane to put in an inspired performance against Rini Coolen-s men.
“It-s important because it-s Adelaide and last time we played them at home, I don-t think we played as well as we could have,” he said.
“They-ve been the frontrunners all year so we-ve definitely want to put in a good performance.
“If we win this weekend, there will be a little buffer (at the top of the table) that will start to appear and that will be fantastic for us after a long, long week.
“To come home, which is great, and to get three points – that would be magnificent.”
