Football Fern set for debut as Wellington Phoenix return to scene of first win

A-League Women round four: Wellington Phoenix v Canberra United

Where: McKellar Park, Canberra When: Saturday, 5pm (NZT)

Live coverage: Sky Sport 7, live updates on Stuff

Football Ferns forward Emma Rolston is finally ready to make her Wellington Phoenix debut after a “frightening” incident against South Korea last month delayed it.

Rolston has travelled with the team to Australia and is expected to feature in Saturday’s capital clash with Canberra United, giving the winless Phoenix a much-needed boost as they look to climb off the bottom of the A-League Women table.

The 25-year-old was one of three capped New Zealand internationals to sign with the Phoenix ahead of their second season, lured home from Europe to help fill the void left by top goalscorer Grace Jale’s departure to Canberra.

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However, the week leading up to their first game Rolston found herself lying in agony on the field at Christchurch’s Orangetheory Stadium after hurting her back during a friendly against South Korea.

Rolston has struggled with back problems throughout her professional career and although she was unsure what exactly caused the latest flare up, she said she felt “partially paralysed” when it happened, 15 minutes after kickoff.

The injury ruled her out of the Football Ferns’ second match against South Korea, as well as the first three rounds of the A-League season.

After originally hoping to be back for last weekend’s 1-0 defeat to Melbourne Victory, Rolston has finally been given the green light to make her debut against eighth-place Canberra on Saturday.

“They still don’t know what happened,” Rolston said.

“It was almost like being partially paralysed, it was the only way I could describe it. It just came on and I couldn’t move properly, I couldn’t run or do anything. I couldn’t move at all.

“Without being able to do that I had to come out of the game obviously, which was really disappointing as it was a home game and having all my family there.

“It honestly was a little bit terrifying because I’ve only had it happen to me once in my life before, and at that point I thought I had broken my back. I was in hospital and it was really bad.

“When it happened again it was horrible, I was in a lot of pain and it’s not a nice thing to happen.”

Although she was unsure what had caused the injury, Rolston said New Zealand Football and the Phoenix had joined forces to come up with a treatment plan to get her back on the pitch as soon as possible.

After granting her some time away from the team to recover physically, and mentally, coach Natalie Lawrence confirmed Rolston was available to play Canberra, who the Phoenix beat 3-0 last season to claim their first-ever win.

Her return is timely after the Phoenix put up just three shots in a toothless performance against Victory.

“We’re pretty stoked to have her back. Hopefully she is going to be able to hit the ground running and perform,” Lawrence said.

“She’ll help a huge amount. If I think back to the [Melbourne] City game we created a lot [of goal-scoring chances], we had 17 shots, and in the last two games it’s been quite a lot lower, so a big focus for us this week is to create more.

“We want to be an attacking team and what Rollo offers is something different to anyone else in the team. She can use both feet and she can create for others, so we’re pretty excited to see what she can do.”

Chloe Knott will once again don the armband with captain Lily Alfeld and vice-captain Kate Taylor sidelined with injuries. Alyssa Whinham has been cleared after struggling with heat exhaustion in the last game.

If Jale can find the back of the net against her former club, she will become the first player in the A-League Women to score in seven consecutive games, a streak that includes four goals for the Phoenix.