It wouldn’t feel right if we went a whole day without an injury update, would it?
So, here’s the latest injury update.
“The thing about the game being called off in that way is that it gives us a few extra days with the lads who are close to being back,” manager Paul Simpson said. “We are struggling in terms of the numbers.
“I didn’t want it off, I’m not saying it’s ideal at all, but you could see that we had a definite height disadvantage on set plays. They caused us a few issues.
“We knew it was going to be a challenge in the aerial battles because of what they’ve got and how they utilise them. That was why we chose to go with three up top, as we tried to keep four of their defenders back.
“It was a case of doing what we could with the players we have available, due to the injury situation.”
The change to the eleven from Saturday was Jamie Devitt, in for Owen Moxon in the midfield area.
“We’re hoping Owen isn’t too serious,” he explained “He said he felt something early on in the game on Saturday and I took him off because I thought he was tired as opposed to him being injured.
“He’s since reported a strain to his thigh, and I probably expected to have to deal with this sort of thing with him because professional football is new to him.
“He hasn’t been training every day or playing at the intensity levels we need prior to joining us just a couple of months ago.
“He’s done really well so far, maybe this is just a little bit of a niggle. We’re hopeful that it’s just one game and that he’ll be ok for the weekend, we’ll just have to wait and see on that one. I’m not going to take any chances with him.
“Maybe this might do him a little bit of a favour just to take his breath again and if he’s fit for the weekend great, he’ll come into my thinking, if he’s not then we’ve got to get him right for the weekend after.”
“This weekend is probably going to be too early for all of the injuries, apart from Mox,” he continued. “I’d like to think that come the weekend after, when we’re back at home, we will have Morgan close.
“He’s looking really promising, and Ryan Edmondson was a little bit better today. Hopefully we’ll get more improvement from him towards the Gillingham game, but we’re just going to tread carefully and try to keep everybody right.
“Edmo is certainly getting better, there’s definite improvement in the way it feels for him. We’re not scanning him every other day, so we don’t know how the mass of fluid’s looking. It’s a day by day with Edmo or probably even a week by week.
“I think this weekend maybe too early for him but I’m hoping he might be closer by the home game. If he’s not right for that one, then in another period of time we can get him right and we’ll see where he goes from there.”
One player who must have really been cursing the weather was Jamie Devitt, who was out there to make his first start of the season.
“It’s really unfortunate for him, but I suppose that’s life,” the gaffer told us. “I selected him because I felt his experience was going to be really important for us, and he now just has to wait and hope that another chance will come.
“He’s probably hoping Mox isn’t fit for the weekend, but we’ll just have to wait and see. It was good to have Paul Huntington involved as well.
“He was on the bench but I explained to him that I wasn’t intending to put him on. The truth is, we didn’t have anybody else. We were down to what we’ve got, this is it. It was a case of having him on the bench for his experience.
“I wanted him to travel, and to get back into the routine of match day. He was involved and he played a big part at the weekend because he came in at half time and he was passing on his knowledge and experience that he has, particularly to the defenders, so he has a role to play even if he isn’t on the pitch.
“It gives us another week to get him fit, maybe this weekend is still too early, but we’ll see how we go over the next week.
“He’s bedding in really well. I like him, I like his personality, I like the way he is. He’s got good knowledge, he’s good at passing information on, and he does it in a really good way.
“It’s not with an arrogance, like I’ve been here and done that, it’s more of an educator way. I’ve been impressed with him so far.”
With injuries clearly having an impact on selection, we wondered if it was something he’d experienced before.
“I have, I’ve had a few, to be honest, when it’s been like this, particularly when I was an assistant at Derby and Bristol City,” he commented. “I just think it’s the nature of football now. We are pushing players harder, demanding they’re fitter, stronger, more robust, we maybe have to just get through this.
“I find it quite interesting, as I read on what other teams are up to and even at the top level where they have staff for staff. They’re picking up injuries, Liverpool have a depleted group - we just have to keep our fingers crossed that evreybody’s ok.
“Thankfully we didn’t play long enough to pick anything up tonight, and we try and get a few more bodies available for this weekend.”
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