Melbourne City goalkeeper Tom Glover fit for Mariners A-League Men clash
Melbourne City goalkeeper Tom Glover has been cleared to return to A-League Men action. Photo: AAP
Melbourne City goalkeeper Tom Glover has been cleared to face Central Coast, 10 days after he was concussed by a spectator wielding a metal bucket in the A-League Men Melbourne derby pitch invasion.
Glover suffered concussion and a facial laceration when he was hit in the head by a sand-filled bucket, normally used to put out flares but wielded by a pitch invader in City’s clash with Melbourne Victory.
He will don the gloves against the Mariners at AAMI Park on Tuesday night but interim coach Rado Vidosic conceded it would be difficult to see how Glover was affected by the incident.
“Tommy missed the first few training sessions (last week) because of concussion. He came back and trained in the last two training sessions, so he’s good to go,” Vidosic told reporters on Monday.
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“Everyone else is looking forward to the game. It’s been almost 10 days between the two games so everyone is ready and we can’t wait for tomorrow.
“He (Glover) had a lot of support from the players and everyone around him here at the training sessions and he looks back to his normal (self).
“He trained really well and we hope that everything is fine with him, but we’ll find out a little bit more tomorrow once he starts the game.”
The 23-year-old who allegedly assaulted Glover has already received a life ban from Football Australia and is facing Victoria Police charges, including violent disorder and discharging a missile, among other offences.
“It was a very sad moment for everyone involved in football, that something like that can happen,” he said.
“You kind of only see that on the TV but to be in the front row when something like that happens, it has got even a bigger impact on people.
“So hopefully this is never going to happen again and we can continue to do what we love and we can promote our game as much as we can.”
City is unable to have an active support bay on Tuesday night due to some fans letting off flares at the derby.
Vidosic was confident his table-topping team would continue to show off its quality but was wary of what the Mariners, including Garang Kuol and Jason Cummings, could deliver.
“They’ve been really a shining light this season in the A-League,” Vidosic said.
“(Nick) Montgomery’s got them playing some really exciting football.
“They’ve got some really got quality players. They’re quite unpredictable with the quality they’ve got.”
-AAP