Bosnich relaunches career in Australia

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Six years after the drug-fueled collapse of his career in England's Premier League, Australian goalkeeper Mark Bosnich will relaunch his career this weekend.

Bosnich will play for the Central Coast against Sydney in an Australian A-League pre-season cup match in Gosford on Sunday.

Central Coast coach Lawrie McKinna confirmed Friday that Bosnich would start the match as he trials for a longer contract with the club.

"I'm under no illusions here, I'm here on trial," Bosnich said. "Forget past reputations - I have to perform."

"I'm very thankful and happy to have a chance to start on Sunday.

"At least I'll know where I'm at in terms of fitness and my sharpness. It's a great opportunity to see where I'm at with my game."

Bosnich, 36, is making a belated attempt to restart his career almost six years since he was sacked by Chelsea after testing positive for cocaine, incurring a nine-month suspension by the Premier League.

It was an ignominious end to Bosnich's English career. He played briefly with Manchester United as a teenager before transferring to Aston Villa, where he was first-choice goalkeeper for most of his eight-year stay.

He then returned to United and played most of the 1999-2000 season before a falling out with manager Alex Ferguson resulted in a transfer to Chelsea for his brief stint.

Bosnich admitted he went off the rails with a cocaine addiction, marriage to a supermodel and appeared lost to football.

He finally made efforts to restart his career by training last year with former Chelsea goalkeeping teammate and then Queens Park Rangers coach Ed de Goey before returning to Australia to find a club.

Bosnich, whose weight ballooned in his time away from the game, is now just slightly above his playing weight at the height of his career.

The Sydney native is anticipating plenty of comments from his hometown fans.

"I'm interested to see how I'll perform myself and I'm feeling the nerves for the first time in a long time, and that's a good thing," Bosnich said.

"People pay their money to get into a ground. They're entitled to shout what they want to shout."

Central Coast turned to Bosnich as a short-term solution to the suspension of regular goalkeeper Danny Vukovic, who is suspended until October for hitting the referee during last year's grand final, but the former Australia international is seeking a long-term deal.

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