Manager Keith Hill has told iFollow that he’s “encouraged” to see key players coming back from injury and illness.
On Saturday, Hill, for the first time this season, almost had an almost full complement of players available to pick from for the game against Gillingham, with only a few now sidelined.
“We’re getting players back fit now, which is always encouraging because players will then earn the right to play,” said Hill.
“Calvin was back in the squad and he’s getting somewhere near back in shape. He’s not 100-percent match fit at this moment in time, so we’ve got to be careful with that. It was important that we had a wide striker on Saturday with the way that we wanted to play, and I thought Steve Davies did an excellent job in the first half. Calvin then came on and got some much needed minutes.
“It’s better for me when I have selection options like I did on Saturday going into the remaining fixtures of the first half of the season leading up to January and then we’ll see where we are. From my point of view, it’s also encouraging that Campsy has come back in and played two games, and has made the type of impact that he has.
“As a manager you are only ever gauged on results, but we’re now seeing the light with respect to the players that we’re getting back. There’s a lot of working going on to make us better with the players that we’ve got and I see it coming. We’ve got to make sure that we get our seatbelts on and get prepared for the hard miles, and I think the players have got to appreciate that.”
Hill, meanwhile, confirmed on Friday that Keith Keane is on the long-term injury list and will require surgery.
“Keith needs surgery and will be out for a sustained period of time,” said Hill.
“He’s got experience and intelligence, and he can glue everything together, so we’re missing him, there’s no doubt about that.”