Michael Boxall has been called in to join the Wellington Phoenix squad ahead of Saturday night's encounter with the Melbourne Victory at AAMI Park as a replacement for the suspended Manny Muscat.
Muscat has been handed a three-match ban following Tuesday's 2-1 loss to the Brisbane Roar when the Maltese international elbowed Roar player Nicholas Fitzgerald in an incident that was missed by the officials at the time.
The match review panel picked up the offence, though, and slapped Muscat with the ban.
The Phoenix have opted to accept the sanction, which creates a headache for coach Ricki Herbert who will have to reshuffle his starting XI this weekend. He could insert Cameron Lindsay to the midfield to make his A-League debut or recall Alex Smith from the bench.
Herbert has a couple of options outside of Lindsay and Smith, including moving Jeremy Brockie back in to the midfield and promoting Stein Huysegems from the bench to start up front or starting Benjamin Totori.
