United boss Chris Beech gave us an injury update at his Saturday morning pre-Fleetwood press conference, where he spoke first about the move to bring Sheffield United keeper Marcus Dewhurst in with keeper Magnus Norman now sidelined for an as yet unspecified length of time.
“With Magnus, it was a bit of a freak injury,” he explained. “There was massive swelling on his knee after the Gateshead game. He completed 90 minutes, didn’t feel anything, but he had a scan and the news could be that it’s not long-term, but definitely not short.
“He’s seeing a specialist in London while we’re playing Fleetwood. There’s already been two opinions that are different in the doctors’ domains. He’s seeing what would be considered the elite specialist on Tuesday, so we’ll know more after that.
“Obviously with it being over a week or two that he’s going to be absent we knew we needed cover, and that’s why we looked into the loan market. We’re really thankful that Sheffield United have been able to help us out again.
“It means we’re getting a lad that shares the same growth and commitment to playing football as we do. There was a time last season when we had horrific weather and a few players couldn’t get to work who lived that way. He just kept going in his car and eventually turned up about 2.30pm … I just thought to myself, what a great attitude he’s got.
“Hopefully we’ll see him make his debut this time. He was going to make it before the lockdown came along, Louis had gone to Chester, so Marcus was going to get an opportunity in those nine games, but it didn’t come for obvious reasons.”
On Brennan Dickenson, who left the field of play early in the first half during the Sunderland friendly, he said: Brennan’s got a problem with his hamstring. It’s not fantastic news, it could have been worse, but in terms of having that power, pace, physicality, we lose that for a short time.
“I think the fans will really relate to Brennan, he’s got a bit about him. For a winger, it would be wrong to suggest they’re not the hardest of players, but quite often they’re not. But Brennan is.
“That will resonate with our fans as well as his ability, speed, and qualities. We’ll have to wait a bit longer to enjoy that, which is a shame. The timescale of his injury is still being established, we’ll see how it responds this week. It’s not the best in terms of what’s initially come out, but it could have been worse.
“Depending what happens with it, that’s when we’ll maybe look at cover. Again, your best laid plans are often changed, it’s about having the capabilities and adaptabilities, as in any working life.
“Of course you’d want Brennan on that pitch against Fleetwood, it’s evident he won’t be, but you want him doing what we’ve employed him to do. He can’t currently. He was due to go home this weekend, but he didn’t because he’s so committed to getting right.
“He picked up his keys to his flat last week, it’s just what happens. Some things you can protect, some things just happen with the best will in the world.”
Meanwhile with striker Omari Patrick having also missed out with a niggling injury, he commented: “He’s a quick athlete, and his hamstring tightened in training early doors. I could have played him at Gateshead, but we gave him a full week’s worth of training before we played Wigan.
“He just felt uneasy, so I felt it was best to bring him back out. He’s happy now so we’ll see how that goes.
“The other one is Jack Armer. He’s doing great. He was running the other day at Liverpool. He would have played a lot of time in these matches, but will be back soon. Tom Wilson’s the long term, young injury, but he’s progressing well.”
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