Phil Parkinson has given the latest fitness update on his squad as we head to Fleetwood Town on Friday night in Sky Bet League One action.
Very quickly, the manager first addressed to the media a new injury blow for Lynden Gooch.
“Lynden went to see a specialist on Wednesday night about an ankle injury,” Parkinson revealed.
“He feels he needs a period of rest, and he’ll have an injection on Friday, so we expect him to be out for between two and four weeks.
“It’s certainly a blow for Lynden as he has been exceptional so far this season, but we have to take the specialist’s advice and ensure he’s ready and firing when he returns.”
Whilst Parkinson admitted it is a considerable disappointment to lose Gooch for a busy period of matches, he insisted many of the squad will receive valuable minutes on the pitch.
“It is of course a bad time to be suffering injuries amongst the squad, but as we said last week, we have players who are looking to kickstart their own seasons and we have a few in that category.
“There are some players who have had a lack of opportunities, and some who are back from injury. Elliot Embleton is an example of the latter, a player whose loans and internationals have helped him become robust enough for league football, but who has suffered a long setback. He’ll be expecting to get game time over the coming days.
“It’s part and parcel of football unfortunately, other teams suffer with injuries too, and it’s our job to get players back sharp as quickly as possible.”
The gaffer then rounded up the latest on other members of the squad – including the progress of Jordan Willis and Callum McFadzean – and touched on a fresh training routine for Aiden McGeady, who featured for Elliott Dickman’s Under-23 side earlier this week.
“Jordan Willis has made good progress and has been running this week. Callum McFadzean is back in full training – slightly longer than we expected, as he has had to do some further fitness work, but we have to get him right.
“Morgan Feeney is also back in training and we’ll continue to assess him as he’s been out for a while, along with Aiden O’Brien who had some tightness in his groin and missed last weekend.
“Aiden McGeady is essentially on a ‘pre-season’ programme which is what he needs and wants, as he has had a couple of injuries recently. He played an hour for the Under-23s on Monday as we look to get him up to speed. I’ve spoken to him; he hasn’t played a senior game since July so it’s important for him to work with this programme, and then we’ll assess him.”
