Sydney FC coach Ufuk Talay has slammed online trolls for the “disgraceful” messages they have sent Sky Blues striker Patrick Wood after a horror goal miss last weekend, revealing he played with an injured ankle which will now sideline him for 12 weeks.
Wood, 21, has been targeted by cyberbullies after missing a sitter in Sydney’s 3-1 win over the Central Coast Mariners last Saturday in Gosford as he avoided using his injured left foot to shoot when he was just metres out with an empty net in front of him.
After a tough few days dealing with the online abuse, Wood has succumbed to the injury and won’t play again until May.
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Talay was quick to defend his young marksman on Thursday.
“Some comments and some messages that have been sent to him have been quite disgraceful,” the Sydney FC coach said.
“I understand that we live in the public eye, but what they don’t see is that he’s had a stress fracture in his ankle for quite a few weeks, and he’s been playing through it with the pain.
“He’s a player that gives his all every time he puts on the shirt. He plays with a lot of pride.
“Players make mistakes, coaches make mistakes, referees make mistakes. We’re all human, we’re not robots, we’re not going to get it right 100 per cent of the time.
“It’s very disappointing (that he’s received) those messages.”
Wood’s teammate Anthony Caceres also leapt to the forward’s defence.
“I don’t think people understand how difficult it is to play when you’re injured, let alone have a stress fracture the way ‘Woody’ does have,” Caceres said.
“The reaction is pretty disappointing. He’s not the first person to miss a chance.
“Things on the field happen at 100 miles an hour.”
The Sky Blues are aiming for back-to-back wins when they host Adelaide United at Allianz Stadium on Saturday night.
“The group’s been very positive. The energy has been very high so far,” Talay said.
“The boys have been working very hard.”