Canberra United forward Ashleigh Sykes has confirmed she will be ready and raring to go when United resume their Westfield W-League campaign against Adelaide United on the 7th January.
The star forward injured her ankle in a tackle during the 1-0 Round Six loss to Brisbane Roar at McKellar Park in December, and since then has missed losses to Melbourne City and Sydney FC while on the sidelines.
But last seasons Golden Boot winner confirmed this week that she will be back on the park when United face Adelaide at McKellar Park.
“Easy, I’ll definitely be playing,” Sykes said when asked about her chances.
“It has been a few weeks on the sideline, just building back strength, giving it some time to recover and getting ready for the rest of the season.”
United’s three match winless streak has sparked a slide down the table, and Sykes admitted it is hard sitting and watching games such as the loss to Sydney.
“It is tough to sit and watch after playing so much, you kind of ride every ball as a player,” she said.
“I think we can learn a lot from the loss to Sydney, but at the end of the day we weren’t good enough.”
The news comes at an important time for United, after fellow winger Nicky Flannery confirmed she has been ruled out of the rest of the season.
There goes the foot ?? Sad that my season has come to an end but I’m so excited to watch the @CanberraUnited girls kill ittt ???? pic.twitter.com/y1PSLPgOb7
— Nickoletta Flannery (@nickii_flannery) December 24, 2017
Head Coach Heather Garriock said it was great to have Sykes back in training ahead of the Adelaide match.
“It’s great to see her back within the squad,” Garriock said.
“She is a really important piece and her not being here has been tough and it will be great to have her for the first game back.
Garriock took the chance to stress the importance of the next game back as United look to make a late charge to the finals.
“We have to get three points, so a win is on our mind and from now until then it is about building confidence within the group so we can get a win.”
Canberra United v Adelaide United will kick off at McKellar Park on Sunday the 7th January at 4:30pm.
Tickets can be purchased here.
