The subject of who is and who isn’t on the teamsheet is always one that interests the fans ahead of each game, and manager Paul Simpson took some time out of his post-match deliberations at Oxford to explain the absences from that particular journey.
“Sean Maguire didn’t make it, he’s got a family issue back at home,” he told us. “He was travelling with us, him and Owen moxon both were, they both trained on Friday morning.
“They then went home ready to come back in, Mox had a bit of lunch, it was the second bit of food he’d had, and he started being sick again in the afternoon. That’s why we kept him out of it.
“I think he’s a lot better today from what Chris Brunskill has told me. He’s got another two or three days before the next game.
“With him not feeling right yesterday we just said stay at home and you’ve got a couple of days to get yourself back eating again and get a bit more energy into you, and hopefully he’ll be ok for Tuesday.
“There’s nothing else in it, everybody ties to put two and two together and come up with five. He was ill, he did train on Friday morning, didn’t look very well if I’m being honest, and again we were thinking with more than 24 hours to get him right he’d be fine, but unfortunately his stomach wasn’t right.”
“Sean Maguire called me late afternoon on Friday to say he’d had a difficult family issue that he’s had to stay behind for,” he continued. “He then spoke to me later in the night and said he was going to get the train first thing in the morning and get into Oxford for about 11am.
“Then about an hour later he called again and said something’s taken another bit of a turn and I’m going to have to stay. I hope everything’s ok with him because family is definitely more important than football.
“I hope it’s ok. With a bit of luck we may have him with us again on Monday ready for Tuesday night.”
Midfielder Dylam McGeouch was another notable absentee.
“We’re waiting to see on Dylan,” he confirmed. “He took a corner and felt a twinge in his hamstring. The symptoms are very good from testing on Friday, we’re going to see how he is over the weekend, he may come back in to do some work on Tuesday, he might train with the rest of the group.
“We’ll wait and see on that. It’s disappointing that unfortunately Dylan missed quite a chunk of pre-season, like Dan Butterworth did. We’ve just got to tread really carefully and make sure we don’t overwork them, push them too hard and give them a big spike that you get out of a match day, and hope he gets himself right as soon as possible.
“Dan’s coming along well. I think if he can get opportunities he’s somebody who’ll score goals, he’s a really good finisher. He’s got great feet.”
“So hopefully we’ll have more available for Wigan,” he concluded. “But we don’t take risks. You see the shift the players have put in, it takes maximum effort from everybody.
“Somebody who’s not really in the best state, you can’t take chances with that. Hopefully he’ll be ok for Tuesday. I don’t think it’s something that could spread but we’re not prepared to take the chance.
“The truth is if you’re not feeling well it’s not a good thing to travel four or five hours to the other end of the country. We need to get Mox right for Tuesday night and we want him right for the season, not for just one particular game. Let’s see how he is when we’re back in on Monday.”