Manager John Sheridan welcomed returnee Ashley Nadesan back to the club with a start on Saturday afternoon at the Jonny-Rocks Stadium and he spoke at full time about what he expects the lively forward to add to the mix.
“The work he did ahead of the goal is typical of the type of player he is,” he said. “It’s what he’s all about and it was brilliant from him.
“It was endeavour to get to the ball when he didn’t really have any right to get there. He was aware of where Benno [Richie Bennett] was and he managed to get it to him. It was a nice finish as well and I think Benno will be thanking him for that.
“I think he’s a bit short of matches, but I threw him in to a 4-4-2 and he did well. He had a bit of cramp at the end, but one thing I know is that he’ll work his socks off for me.”
On how the loan signing came about, he explained: “The chairman at Fleetwood was good in helping us out with him. I sent him a text message and Paul Murray has been on the case for us as well.
“Other clubs were after him and there was a bit of politics involved, and that led to reasons why we couldn’t get him in earlier. He was only too happy to come in the end and he knows he’s got a good chance of playing football while he’s with us.”
Also completing his first 90 minutes for the club was central defender Anthony Gerrard.
“I know what a good player he is,” the manager said. “He’s a bit short of match practice but I thought he was excellent. He’s going to be a very good player for us.
“Look, the only way he’s going to get fit is by playing games. He still needs to catch up with things, but this won’t have done him any harm. I thought with the pitch being not so big it would suit him and that’s exactly as it turned out.”
There was concern at one point during the game that a cut on midfielder Kelvin Etuhu’s head was going to lead to an enforced substitution but, in the end, it was common sense on behalf of the management which saw him take an early bow.
“He had a clash of heads, I think that was when he went up with Richie Bennett, and they had to put a couple of stitches in, or so I believe,” he told us. “That was annoying for him, but he was dealing with that fine.
“He was on a yellow when he came off and it’s typical of today’s football. You don’t need to touch anybody to get a booking or a red card. There was a tackle and he made a genuine attempt to get the ball – I don’t actually think there was a bad tackle all game.
“The referee was just being a little bit busy, so it was the right thing to take him off when we did.”
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