2 weeks Ago
GRAHAM Alexander views Antoni Sarcevic’s return as a “bonus” for the Bantams – after fearing his season could have been over. The sight of Sarcevic back in action six weeks on from his hamstring injury was a real plus amid the despair at Swindon. When the 33-year-old crumpled to the floor at Salford at the start of March, there was a genuine worry that City had lost their promotion ace for the run-in.
“That was the initial diagnosis,” admitted boss Alexander. “It was pretty much that was it, maybe for the sake of the last game of the regular season as an outside bet. “But he was out on the grass jogging reasonably quickly within five or six days of the scan.
It was really low-level stuff but it started the process. “He’s continued to improve. Bobby (Scarborough), the physio, warned us not to get ahead of ourselves but he was ahead of where he should be.
“We didn’t put any pressure on him and get into the desperate stakes where we put him in the team before he was ready.” Sarcevic had wanted to be involved in the last home outing against Crewe after a visit to a specialist confirmed he was nearly good to go. But Alexander resisted his appeals to hold him back another week.
“Sarce was begging me to be on the bench and said he felt ready to give 20 minutes. “But he hadn’t really trained with us properly, so I thought it was too much of a risk. “There was a temptation, of course, because he’s a really good player.
But we were in a really good place as a team and I knew there would be other big games coming up. “When it comes down to the crunch, you need your players with the big personalities and characters and Sarce is one of those guys. Antoni Sarcevic suffered a hamstring injury against Salford (Image: Thomas Gadd) “For the sake of one more week, I needed him ticking the box of him fully training with us.
“But on Friday, he said he was ready and it was the right thing to bring him into the squad.” Sarcevic was unleashed as a 74th-mihute replacement for Brandon Khela – and immediately had a hand in the fourth goal. His close-range effort was pushed out by Swindon keeper Connor Ripley as far as Brad Halliday to sweep home for what City thought might prove a dramatic winner.
The gut-wrenching finale changed all that but Sarcevic had at least announced he was back in business. Now he is hungry for more as the promotion race hits fever pitch. Alexander said: “The hope was that he’d be okay for 30 minutes relatively risk free.
“We wanted to bring him on in better circumstances. But he was on for three minutes and had a big part to play in our fourth goal. “That’s the sort of impact he can have on a team.
It’s a bonus having him back at this stage because it isn’t something we planned for.” Alexander planned to chat with Sarcevic after training before deciding whether to throw him in from the start against Notts County. “We’ll assess how he’s recovered from training fully and the game.
I’ve told him that I don’t want to take unnecessary risks that put him in longer danger. “I know we’ve only got four games of the regular season left but we want him available for all of them, whether it’s on the bench or in the starting team.”.
