Paul Simpson spoke to us ahead of this weekend's home game against Wycombe Wanderers.
When asked about the preparations leading up to this game and how injuries have affected training, he said: “It’s been a normal training week, obviously got reduced numbers at the moment with players being injured.
"Training has gone well, we are looking forward to going out against Wycombe and trying to put on a performance that hopefully gets us a result to finish our home season.
“We’ve had a few from the weekend with bumps and scrapes and whatever, but most of them have come through and are back in training now.”
We spoke to the gaffer about the injury to Jack Robinson and he updated us on the matter: “We expected it to be a bad one, he’s went and had a scan and he’s got a stress fracture at the bottom of his tibia.
“We are waiting to get a CT scan, which shows us the extent of the bone damage and then the likelihood being he made need surgery to pin that.
“Worst case scenario is we are looking at about four-months for him and it was such an innocuous thing, so that’s the real blow from the weekend. Unfortunately, it’s just one of them things we’ve got to deal with.”
Aran Fitzpatrick was recalled from his loan at Workington AFC earlier this week.
“We’ve been in a position where I’ve felt we’ve had good coverage on that left-hand side, now with Robbo getting injured, we don’t have that so I’ve called Aran back.
“I was in two minds to call him back last week before the game, I just didn’t feel as though he was going to be involved.
“I’m not guaranteeing Fitzy is going to be involved on Saturday, but I wanted to give myself that option.
“As selfish as that might sound, he’s our player and I think it’ll be good experience for him to be involved in the training with us and the possibility of him being involved on matchday.”
Simpson also provided us with updates on all other injuries.
“Both [Fin Back and Dylan McGeouch] have joined full training today, Fin has only missed a few days, Dylan a bit longer.
“Dylan is not ready to start, but he’s certainly coming into my thinking of being in the squad.
“Again, if we had a whole host of players available he would be too early, but it’s a needs must at the moment and everybody’s just got to roll their sleeves up and get on with it and we’ll see Saturday whether or not we’ll need him.
“Josh Vela and Taylor Charters have started their running, they are both back on the grass.
“Callum Guy is still doing well with his rehab but he’s still a long way off.
"Really there is not a lot else, JJ and Georgie are getting fitter after their spells out.
“We’ve just got to keep working and hope we can keep them fit for these last two games.”
Speaking ahead of the Wycombe clash, Paul stated: “They are a good footballing team, they’ve had an okay season and obviously they had the excitement of going to Wembley for the [Bristol Street Motors] Trophy Final.
“We expect it to be a tough game, but we are at home, we want to finish on a high.
“I know that sounds a bit daft with the position we are in, but we want to try and get a performance that gets us a result at home that will hopefully send the fans home with a bit of hope for next season.
“You don’t know what’s going to happen, they had a tough game at Port Vale in the week, it’s a long journey up for them, but we can’t concern ourselves with what their thinking, what their doing, whether they’ve got anything to play for.
“I’ve talked about it for weeks, we are playing for pride in front of our own fans. We’ve had some good results on the road for those fans who have travelled, but we’ve had incredible support here.
“To get over 8,000 for a season like we’ve had in terms of the home crowds is an unbelievable achievement, so credit to the fans for that. We want to try and give something positive for them to take away.
United will undertake a lap of appreciation at the end of Saturday’s game, Simpson told us: “It’s not going to be a case of players coming off the pitch and collecting family members.
“The players are going to stay on the pitch and go round, we know it’s not a celebration, it’s more a thank you.
“We know this season has been a huge disappointment to us all and we owe it to the fans to go and thank them, and we hope the numbers turn up for the game.
"Hopefully the weather will be kind and the players will go round and show the fans their appreciation for the support this year.”
