Melbourne Heart captain Simon Colosimo has been forced out of Saturday night's Week 23 away fixture with Perth Glory because of calf injury.
The 32-year old centre-half sustained a calf strain in the Heart's most recent outing - a 2-0 home win over North Queensland Fury on January 2 - and will now miss the vital clash with the tenth-placed Glory.
Heart boss John van 't Schip revealed that Michael Beauchamp was likely to replace Colosimo who should be back for the January 19 midweek clash with Gold Coast United at AAMI Park.
"Simon pulled out of the game with North Queensland with a calf strain injury," the Dutchman said.
"He had treatment last week, had a training session this week, but didn't feel good enough to go to Perth and play a difficult game, so we preferred to give him a few days extra to prepare himself and hopefully be fit for the game against Gold Coast.
"Normally Michael Beauchamp will be the one who replaces him. He's played in central defence for a great part of the season, and he's looking very good over the last few weeks as well."
