United sweat on injuries after gritty road win

Rhys Carter’s NBL head coaching debut had just about everything.

With Dean Vickerman recovering from successful appendix surgery in Cairns on Thursday, Carter stepped into the lead role for the first time, knowing a win was essential to keep Melbourne United within striking distance of the fourth-placed Perth Wildcats.

It didn’t come easy.

United trailed for much of the night against the Taipans and were forced to dig deep. Shea Ili went down with a hamstring injury before half-time. Chris Goulding battled a sore knee and was sidelined for the final 14 minutes. Then Jesse Edwards fouled out with just under two minutes remaining.

But the response was emphatic.

Milton Doyle delivered 25 points and knocked down 4 of 9 from beyond the arc. Tyson Walker added 17 points, three steals and two assists. In the final quarter, Tanner Krebs, Finn Delany, Tom Wilson, Malith Machar and Fabijan Krslovic all played their part as United outscored Cairns 33-25 to secure an 89-85 victory.

For Carter, it was a debut he won’t forget in a hurry.

“It was definitely a memorable one and it's a lot of adversity thrown at us with guys going down, but we just had a solid plan in place which is what I kind of kept relying on,” Carter said.

“I had Dave Barlow and Jack Fleming (assistant coaches) sitting there with me and I definitely didn’t do this alone, those two were huge and it was a team effort and I made them save me a chair.

“Deano doesn’t sit down, but I said I wanted to sit with you and make sure we stay on the same page so it was a team effort and then obviously the boys stepped up.

“I love that execution in the fourth and the stress levels were through the roof thinking 'if I drop this one it might be a long time before I get another one, so getting it done was huge'.”

There was relief beyond the result.

Before tip-off, Carter received confirmation that Vickerman’s appendix surgery had gone well, a boost for the group heading into a high-pressure night.

Now, attention turns to the injury list. United will monitor Ili’s hamstring, while there is confidence Goulding’s knee concern is not serious.

“It was great to get the call right before we went out to tip-off that the operation was successful and he's (Vickerman) recovering, and he says he's doing well but he's pretty tough Deano and he was really resistant,” Carter said.

"He says he's doing fine but I'm sure there's still a lot of pain and hopefully he's able to get on the plane with us tomorrow if he's recovered and can join us."

United took a no-risk policy with lli, desperate to ensure their star guard is right for Finals.

"I walked straight past Steve McAdam the physio and he said that it was the other hamstring (for Ili) and that they'll assess how bad it is, but it was bad enough to not play and as soon as he had some feeling there we weren't going to risk keeping him in the game and just had to keep him out," Carter said.

All eyes will be on the fitness of Goulding too.

"He (Goulding) had a minor issue behind his knee from the last game and it got much better, and he came into the game feeling really close to 100 per cent but as it went on, it irritated him a little bit but I don't think it's going to be anything major," Carter added.