Van Dijk had sustained knocks to his injured left calf in recent weeks, with the Reds rolling the dice on the star scorer entering the Gold Coast clash. ''During the game, he felt it getting a little bit worse and worse but he tried to move on - it was not a knock from this game but hopefully it's not a tear,'' Coolen said.

The injury continues a spate of calf complaints at Adelaide United, with midfielder Evgeniy Levchenko and defender Milan Susak both missing Friday night's match with calf ailments. All are in doubt for Adelaide's away encounter with Wellington Phoenix on Saturday night.

Coolen said the Reds would travel to New Zealand buoyed by their second win of the season, praising the freedom of expression from his players in the victory over Gold Coast. ''I don't want robots on the pitch,'' Coolen said. ''We have our shape, we have our organisation, we have to do some things - but also I prefer to have a lot of players on the pitch with a lot of freedom.

''That is what we showed last year and I prefer to see that this year as well, the freedom.

''But starting the way we started this competition, by not getting the points to build up your confidence, it can put your team in a situation you are not so happy with and the players lose a little confidence.