Manager Brian Barry-Murphy provides an injury update ahead of Saturday’s game against Plymouth Argyle…
“We feel as if the squad is in a really good place but we obviously still have key players missing - Jimmy Ryan, Jake Beesley, Stephen Dooley and Jack Vale,” said BBM.
“Jimmy Ryan remains a little bit away - he has seen the specialist for his knee. The specialist has told him that he doesn’t need surgery but we still expect him to be missing for another three to four weeks. He’s still recovering from that tackle he had in the game at Wigan, so it has been a difficult spell for him.
“Jake Beelsey’s foot (he damaged his metatarsal) has healed well but still won’t be available for another three of four weeks.
“Stephen Dooley has had good news from the specialist, in terms of that he doesn’t need surgery on a knee problem, but we still expect him to missing for a two week period.
“Jack Vale played in a practice match for us last week and tweaked his hamstring, so he’s likely to be missing for three weeks.
“But Paul McShane came back in on Wednesday for our Central League Cup game against Fleetwood Town and had a great return to action, getting 45 minutes.
“Those things have been constant trends in the season, especially this season, but the squad is competitive and there’s real competition for places. We found on Tuesday night that it was clearly evident when we made changes against Blackpool, that it had a really positive impact on the performance. The challenge for those guys is to really take that competition to the next level. There are no guarantees who plays, and that can only be a good thing for our squad.”
Watch BBM’s pre-match interview in full on iFollow.