After helping Sydney FC’s under-strength side get off to a successful start to this season, in-form central defender, Jacob Timpano will be out of action for the next six weeks after undergoing minor ankle surgery.
When the Hyundai A-League competition kicked off three years ago one of the lesser known members of the Sydney squad was a young defender named Jacob Timpano.
By the time FC lifted the trophy at the end of that first season Timpano had dismissed any doubts about his ability, and stamped himself as a star of the future by playing an integral role in Sydney-s rise to the title.
Fast-forward two seasons though, and it-s been a rough ride for the 22-year-old.
Injury problems kept the Wollongong product out of the action for much of the second and third years of the league, and denied him a chance to represent Australia at the Beijing Games.
Despite all the setbacks though, Jacob has worked hard to overcome his injury concerns, and succeeded.
He-s lined up in every one of Sydney FC-s outings so far this-season, and had begun recapturing the form that saw him considered one of the club-s best, but in the last month he-s hit another hurdle.
The central defender will miss the next six-weeks after undergoing minor surgery to remove a bone spur from his ankle.
“Including all the pre-season games I-ve started nine matches and haven-t missed a beat with any form of injury,” said Timpano. “This is just a little set-back and everything else is positive.”
While disappointed to be sidelined again, the former Olyroos- Captain takes comfort from the fact that this time it-s not an injury that-s forced him from the field.
“I-ve had much worse,” he said, “This is just something that had to be done and if I could-ve waited until the end of the season I would have but that wasn-t the case.”
With the Sydney squad seriously depleted at the start of the Hyundai A-League season, the young defender played through the pain, despite rarely being able to train and needing injections to get through games.
“Jake-s shown plenty of character at a time when he was needed by the team,” explained Sydney coach, John Kosmina. “He-s been great for us so far and he still has an important part to play this-year.”
“I-ve played the first three games nowhere near 100% fit and I think I-ve done quite well so that-s a bit of a bonus for me,” added Timpano. “I-m looking forward to not playing on one leg with a numb foot, as I-ve done the last few weeks, and really looking forward to being fully fit again.”
