3 minute read

Mathew Leckie is no guarantee to return for Melbourne City against Western Sydney as coach Aurelio Vidmar ponders whether to start Jamie Maclaren.

Melbourne City coach Aurelio Vidmar admits he can't put a timeline on Mathew Leckie's return as the Socceroo battles ongoing soreness following his tough injury run.

Vidmar will also ponder starting skipper Jamie Maclaren against Western Sydney after his shock benching in Saturday night's 1-0 win over Wellington.

Leckie last played against Sydney FC on February 24 and has missed City's past two games through soreness.

The explosive 33-year-old has played just six league games between a knee injury and a bad hamstring strain.

With Marco Tilio (hamstring tendon) already sidelined, Vidmar was hopeful at best that Leckie would feature on Tuesday.

"We thought Lecks was going to be right for minutes tonight but then he pulled up sore," Vidmar said.

"Pre-season, from what I was told, he was absolutely flying. And then he copped that knee injury. Then we got him back to playing again. Then he did his hamstring.

"Now he's having all sorts of tightness around his hips and his back and things like that.

"He's just a powerful animal and that's sometimes a problem with those guys. They're just using a lot of force,

"And hopefully for him and hopefully for the team we can get him - whether it's this week, I'm not sure - but hopefully, we really want to see him before the end of the season."

Maclaren is on a 10-game goalless run ahead of Tuesday's huge clash between seventh-placed City and sixth-placed Western Sydney.

He was displaced from the starting line-up by impressive 18-year-old Max Caputo on Saturday.

"I don't like to use that word 'dropped'. But we're in constant dialogue," Vidmar said.

"We spoke a couple of weeks ago about maybe just taking a little bit of pressure off you. And just starting on the bench and coming on during the course of the game.

"And in the end I decided against it. But I thought now was the right time.

"He's had a pretty big period of being on top of his game and unfortunately right now he's not.

"It's not through a lack of trying. Just when you're trying to bang your head against the wall, the wall's not gonna break down - that's where he's at the moment.

"But he came on, gave us some energy in the second half ... slowly, slowly he should start to get a little bit more confidence."

When asked if Maclaren was a chance to start on Tuesday, Vidmar noted "everyone's a chance".

He wouldn't be drawn on any potential changes, saying his players were "absolutely on their knees" after playing in steaming hot conditions on Saturday night, and needed to recover.