Sydney FC youngster Aaron Calver was put through an extensive additional fitness regime specifically to be fit enough to make his long-awaited return in Saturday night's derby, despite suggestions of a debutant starting for the Sky Blues against Western Sydney Wanderers.
While the mystery surrounding Sydney FC's selection choice for the derby captured the attention of the public, the Sky Blues remained calm behind the scenes having put all resources into bringing Calver back to full fitness and solve their defensive crisis.
Calver was considered the least likely of the three young defenders in the frame to start against the Wanderers on Saturday having not played a competitive match in more than eight months due to a lengthy lay-off with a knee injury. All the suggestions in the build-up to the match were around a likely debut for 19-year-old Patrick Flottmann, however behind the scenes, Sydney FC were putting Calver through a rigorous regime over the past fortnight solely for one match.
He was not considered match fit having not played any games in the youth team in the fortnight between returning to training and facing the Wanderers but was brought up to pace just in time for the derby. The 21-year-old underwent extensive extra fitness sessions with the club's conditioning coach Andrew Clark in order to plug the hole in the middle of Sydney's defence left by the departure of Matt Jurman to Korea and an injury to Seb Ryall.
"I had to test the knee to find out if it coped well so I did a fair few extra sessions with Clarkey during the week and then eased off towards the game and I pulled up well. I was doing a lot of sharp changes of directions, a lot of one-on-one drills to test out the knee," Calver said. "I was stoked. I just wanted to play football again so I was really happy. It was pretty tough but I got through it well and the knee held up well so that was good."
Calver partnered Alex Wilkinson in the derby and after a few rusty moments in the early stages of the match, he recovered with an impressive performance that helped keep the league leaders' unbeaten record intact. Concerns over a lack of experience were allayed by a confident performance from the youngster who finished with a game-high of nine interceptions.
Despite the arrival of experienced Dutch defender Jordy Buijs this week, Calver is hoping to retain his starting position for Friday night's clash against Adelaide United following his strong return.
"Hopefully I can now string a few more games together and see where it goes from there," he said. "I thought we were pretty good tonight and if it was any other day we would take the three points but we're happy with the draw and we're still undefeated."
Sydney FC coach Graham Arnold praised the performance of the youngster who made his return in the club's biggest home match of the season, forming part of a defensive unit that kept its ninth clean sheet of the season.
"You blokes were more worried about our defence than I was but I thought our defence was fantastic again and Aaron Calver was outstanding," Arnold said.
Meanwhile, Melbourne Victory striker Besart Berisha will be free to play against Wellington Phoenix this week after having a red card rescinded by the A-League Match Review Panel. Berisha was sent-off against his former club, Brisbane Roar, on Friday night for an alleged elbow incident despite replays suggesting he was innocent. The MRP found the referee made an obvious error in dismissing the Albanian striker, overturning his dismissal, allowing him to play in Tuesday night's clash.
