Graham Kavanagh with an injury update
Manager Graham Kavanagh gave us an update on the injury situation as the squad prepares for the visit of Southend United at the weekend.
“David Amoo is training today [Thursday], so we’re hoping he’ll come through that with no problems, and Troy [Archibald-Henville] will hopefully train at some point next week,” he said.
“Matty Robson will be out for a minimum of eight weeks with his knee problem. Courtney [Meppen-Walter] is having an operation on Tuesday so he will also be eight or nine weeks, depending on what they see in his knee when they do it.
“I think Mark Beck will be another two weeks. He saw the specialist yesterday and he still isn’t allowed to head the ball or have any impact.”
“It's a big blow to have these injuries so early in the season,” he agreed. “The injury situation hasn't been kind to us but it's something we have to deal with.
“We've got a decent enough squad but we obviously had Matty Douglas on the bench on Tuesday. He's only 16 and he's very much one for the future. He's handled this week really well but I do think we need bodies in.
“I asked about two players yesterday. One was 50/50 and the other one was a definite no. We're not going to rush and try and get a player in just for the sake of it, though, because the lads proved the other night they are more than capable of performing.”
“If we can keep getting positive performances like we did on Tuesday then we will start turning those chances into goals and wins,” he continued. “I wasn't pleased at all against Wycombe, as I’ve said before.
“We played well against Derby so I was expecting the same again last Saturday. We didn’t get that so we had the lads in on Sunday to watch the DVD. There were some frank words spoken and the players knew the performance wasn't acceptable.
“We trained on Monday and we told the lads how we wanted to play. They showed real desire and effort to do well and, if we can get that every game, we'll be a match for any team.”
“Jack Marriott came in and I thought he was excellent,” he said. “I thought his energy, movement and his commitment to turn defenders was very good.
“His link up with Billy [Paynter] was very encouraging and Jack is very much in the mould of Stephen Elliott. They have both been very good additions to the group.”
