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Hay missing for NZ Knights [Tue Sep 20th, 2005]
The New Zealand Knights will be without skipper Danny Hay for the next couple of rounds of the A-League.
The central defender was substituted at half-time in the 4-0 loss to Newcastle on Sunday, after a recurrence of a groin problem.
Manager John Adshead said Hay would not be considered for the match against his former club Perth Glory in Auckland on Thursday night.
Adshead also indicated that Hay would miss the home fixture against league leader Adelaide United in the following round, rather than continue to be assessed week by week.
"We will be giving him a couple of weeks now to see if we can settle it down a bit," he said. "The week-to-week basis was getting difficult for him mentally, and it was probably getting difficult for the other players as well."
On the plus side, Japanese midfielder Naoki Imaya and Dutch defender Frank van Eijs are both in contention to make their league debuts.
Imaya has recovered from a broken leg, while van Eijs has overcome a viral complaint.
Apart from Hay, the only other player unavailable for selection is defender Cole Tinkler with shin splints.
After picking the same 15-man squad for the last two rounds, Adshead said there was "every possibility of changes" when he named his line-up to face Perth.
He described the manner of the defeat to the Jets, which sent the Knights to the bottom of the table, as a shock because it was team mistakes, rather than individual errors, that proved costly.
"The team defending has been quite good - against the Mariners it was terrific," Adshead said in reference to the Knights' 2-0 win over the Central Coast two rounds ago.
"So this was a big turnaround. It was not just individual errors that were made, it was the team defending. It was a shock to us."
He found it difficult to explain the lack of intensity in the Knights' performance.
"It's hard to put your finger on why that was," he said. "They were well prepared. They were really intense when they went out to play."
One consolation was that there were only four days between matches for the Knights this week. "Because we've lost, we can't get back out there quick enough."
NZPA
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