Saturday’s home game saw strikers Kris Dennis and Jack Stretton come off the bench to allay fears that their respective calf and ankle problems could lead to long-term absences, but manager Paul Simpson insisted that caution was needed going forward as he aims to have the pair back and firing on all cylinders sooner rather than later.
"The issues they’ve both had haven’t gone away,” he said. “There were a couple of times where the ball was bouncing between Strets and defenders and you could see he was still a little bit tentative in going for things. That type of thing with his ankle doesn’t just disappear.
“He has a full week of training ahead of him now and that’ll do him good.
“Denno’s is a neural issue which is still there. It hasn’t disappeared overnight. He’s been treated this week to get him to a state where he was ready to play a part.
“He has a nerve issue that causes the discomfort. We have a chiropractor who comes in weekly, he treated him on Thursday afternoon and he was fine to train on Friday. We’ll keep doing that, keep managing him.
“Kris is one who needs to train. He needs to train regularly. He’s not at the stage of his career and doesn’t have that physical profile that he can take a few days off.
“He needs to be training and it affects him if he doesn’t. It’s really important we keep on top of this issue, keep him out on the grass, and make sure he stays as sharp as possible.”
“We’re starting to get more and more bodies back, which is really good,” he added. “I had to leave Sonny Hilton out on Saturday, and we’ve got Ben Barclay, Jamie Devitt, Duncan Idehen wasn’t involved, and Joel Senior is continuing to build himself up as well.
“We’re getting a really strong group of players, which is what I wanted at the start of the season. With Joel edging ever closer well have good options in that area.
“Fin Back came in because of Joel’s injury, and Jack Ellis has been a real bonus, I’ve got to say, in the way he’s performed in the games he’s had.
“It will be good not just for the sake of the squad, but good for somebody like Joel to be back fit, because that injury he picked up is a horrendous one.
“Just like Josh Dixon and Brennan Dickenson are feeling at the moment, it’s not pleasant, and he’s worked so hard and deserves to come back. Hopefully he does enough to push Fin as hard as he possibly can.”
But it looks like a Tuesday night run-out for Joel Senior could be one step too soon, with the manager erring on the side of caution.
“I was hoping he would be available but he feels as though he needs another full week of training,” he told us. “We’re not going to force Joel, he’s been out for a long time and has to be comfortable in his own mind.
“We did some work on Thursday, some defending work, and he did really, really well in it. He was having to make tackles, blocks, interceptions, doing the movements you do as a defender where it’s not predictable.
“He’s having to react off a forward player, and he looked really good in it. But he wants to have another week, so unless he comes in on Monday and has changed his mind, I think this one will be a bit too early.”
As for the week ahead for the squad, he commented: “This will be a training week. Those coming back from injury, and others, they’ll be worked hard.
“Ryan Edmondson hasn’t played a lot of football this season, and he’ll benefit from a week. When we don’t have a midweek game I’ve tended to use it as a recovery, but this isn’t a recovery week, it’s a working week.
“We’ll get a chance to recover as we get through these next couple of games. This is about working, we need to work, without killing them, but work to make sure we’re ready for Salford, for Walsall in the FA Cup, and then we’ll deal with December after that.”