Town boss Kieran McKenna says his squad remains “pretty stretched” due to illness and injury but that everyone aside from longer-term absentees George Hirst, Wes Burns and Janoi Donacien trained today.
Hirst is on his way back from hamstring surgery, Burns from a similar but less severe injury which didn’t require an op, while Donacien has a frustrating adductor issue.
“There’s still quite a few, we’re pretty stretched, I’d say,” McKenna said when asked if the illness and injury situation had improved. “There are quite a few players making themselves available.
“The availability’s still pretty high, I think there’s only George and Janoi and Wes on the long-term injury front, everyone else was training today.
“But there’s still some physical issues, medical and injuries around the camp, but the players are putting in a really good physical effort and making themselves available and I’m sure we’ll see a really energetic performance tomorrow night.”
Hirst and Burns have been pencilled in for returns in the latter stages of the season and pressed on when that might be more precisely, McKenna added: “The last three games are in a less than seven days time block. They won’t be available for the next two games, after that, nothing is guaranteed, but nothing is impossible. They’re both working on the grass now and we’ll continue to monitor them.
“We have a two-week break after the Middlesbrough game and I’m sure we’ll have a much better guide then on how they’re doing and which games they might be available for.”
Regarding Burns injury, which the Wales international suffered in the 6-0 hammering of Sheffield Wednesday, he continued: “It was a hamstring strain, I won’t go into the grades and the letters that get attached to these things but it was a pretty, serious isn’t the right word, but it was a proper hamstring pull.
“But, as I’ve said, no surgery required and he’s recovering well. The later scans have looked better. He’s still got a long way to go but he’s making good progress.”
McKenna confirmed that on-loan AFC Bournemouth striker Kieffer Moore was OK after Saturday’s game, despite having been a doubt going into it after coming off against Southampton with a back problem.
“He came through OK, I think he feels a bit better for it, from the injury he picked up on Monday,” he said.
“But he felt ready to play on Saturday and he didn’t report any issues after. He’s done a few less minutes in the last three games, Blackburn, Southampton coming off early and coming off a bit earlier against Norwich, so he feels a bit better, a bit fresher going into this one.”
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