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Perth Glory coach Dave Mitchell is still miffed about the ban copped by defender Dino Djulbic who could return to A-League action this weekend.
Although cleared of spitting towards referee Peter Green in the Glory’s 5-2 loss to Sydney in round three, Djulbic was hit with a five-game ban by the match review panel for unsporting conduct towards a match official.
The 25-year-old has served his ban and is available for Sunday’s clash with Adelaide United at Hindmarsh Stadium but Mitchell says he’s still puzzled by the severity of the punishment.
“The thing about Dino is he’s ultra competitive and I think he was really harshly dealt by and I think our club was harshly dealt by,” Mitchell said today.
“When you think of some punishments that happened to other players in similar sorts of circumstances — and he didn’t do it.
“Absolutely he didn’t.
“He was not guilty by the fact of what he was judged by, and five weeks was a very long suspension . . .”
Melbourne Victory striker Ney Fabiano had his nine-match suspension for spitting at an opponent reduced to six on appeal.
Mitchell said he had yet to decide whether to rush Djulbic straight back into the side in view of Perth’s impressive 2-1 win over Sydney FC last week.
“I’ll make a decision over the next day or so whether he comes back in or not,” Mitchell said.
“It was a good performance last week from our boys so you have to show a bit of faith in the players that played well.”
Striker Eugene Dadi (groin) will spend another week on the sidelines while Jamie Harnwell (soreness) has been on light duties this week.
Adelaide go into the match on a high but weary-legged after securing their passage through to the Asian Champions League final with a 3-1 aggregate win over Uzbekistan outfit Bunyodkor Kuruvchi.
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