Central Coast Mariners pair Nick Montgomery and Jacques Faty are set to make a timely return from injury for Sunday's A-League clash against an in-form Brisbane Roar.
Skipper Montgomery (hamstring) has been sidelined for the Mariners' past two outings -- heavy losses to Wellington Phoenix (3-0) and Western Sydney (4-1) -- while central defender Faty (knee) hasn't played in over a month.
However, they are expected to line up against the Roar at Central Coast Stadium, while midfielder Mickael Tavares is due back from Europe next week and is said to be progressing well with treatment from a France-based specialist in a bid to avoid knee surgery.
All three have been missed by the inexperienced Mariners, who will need all the help they can get against a Brisbane side that tore Adelaide United to shreds with a 4-0 thumping on Sunday, extending their undefeated run to five matches.
"We hope to have one or two players back from injury as well, that will help us," striker Roy O'Donovan said.
"We're a little bit light in a lot of ways. We need our most experienced players on the pitch for good reason.
"Hopefully this week we've got a reaction and the strongest team on the pitch that's available."
The Mariners had 62 percent of possession against the Phoenix in Wellington on Saturday night, but had only three shots on target and were overwhelmed by a side clearly keen to respond after the resignation of coach Ernie Merrick last week.
It leaves them in ninth position on the ladder, three points ahead of bottom-placed Adelaide and level with Wellington and the Newcastle Jets.
"It obviously makes it a little bit more difficult as a team that there's not a lot of games out there [on the pitch], not a lot of experience of being 1-0 down after two minutes to draw upon where you go next," O'Donovan said.
"But you learn. Hopefully a lot of harsh lessons were learned over in Hamilton.
"It was a pretty flat performance from us in an attacking sense. The beauty of sport is we've got next week now to put it right."