One step forward, two steps back has been the best way of describing the injury situation for United this season with every light at the end of the tunnel partially extinguished by a new problem that rears its ugly head.
That was the case again on Saturday afternoon when a fine victory was blighted by concerns over Fin Back and goal hero Omari Patrick, who both left the pitch tentatively holding their hamstrings.
“I’m really disappointed with the couple of injuries we’ve picked up, with Fin Back and Omari,” manager Paul Simpson said. “We’ll just have to wait and see how they are because it seems to be that it’s not so much one step forward and two back, but it’s definitely one step back when you pick up things like this.
“With hamstrings, it’s always a worry, yes. Omari said it’s the same as he felt last time, which wasn’t bad, but we’ve just got to see how he is. He’s trained now for two weeks but last week, I’ve got to say, we hardly did any training at all because I wanted them to have energy and to be fresh for this game.
“Fin hasn’t had a single problem with muscles at any stage of his career, so he’s told me, so we’ll see. He said he didn’t feel it go, he just felt it tighten, so I’m hoping it’s not too serious.
“It’s always difficult to know just after the game but Ross the physio will assess them, touch base with them tomorrow and we’ll see what they’re like on Monday.
“Whether or not we need to go down the line of having a scan, we’ll wait and see. I’m really hoping it’s not too serious and it might just be some sort of neural issue that we’ll see when we get them back in.
“They both said they just felt it tighten, it wasn’t a case of it popping. When it goes it goes with a bang, or so I’m told. I’m fortunate I don’t think I was quick enough to pull my hamstring.
“I imagine they’ll be sore for the next 24 to 48 hours, but let’s wait and see and keep our fingers crossed.”
“Owen Moxon took a whack in midfield on his foot, Callum Guy got kicked and he’s got booked for it, which I find incredible, but maybe it was just one of many strange decisions from the referee,” he continued. “We’ll just have to wait and see how they all are.
“It isn’t going to take the gloss off winning away from home, in front of magnificent support. We just have to deal with whatever comes next.”
Looking closer at the step forward was the welcome return to the fray for Ryan Edmondson, who came on in a rather unfamiliar right-wing role.
“It’s great for us and him and us that he’s back,” the gaffer told us. “I thought he did a really good job for us out there.
“It shows the personality of him that he didn’t even bat an eyelid when I said go and play wide right for me.
“I told him when he came to the club that I want him to play as a nine, through the middle of the pitch, but Kristian Dennis was doing an outstanding job up there on his own and I wasn’t prepared to change that.
“He came on, did what he had to do, and he’s a real threat out there because of his size. He showed running power by getting at the full back and all in all I think it’s been a really big squad performance. I’m delighted for everybody and we all go home happy.
“Edmo’s had a good couple of weeks of training, credit to Ross getting him fit again and Geoff with the work they do in the gym together.
“There are some good things to come from Ryan, I just hope we can keep him out on the pitch, get him a good, sustained run of games, get him fit and stronger. He just wants to play.”
Aldo on the brink of a return was defender Ben Barclay, who has also been involved in the main training sessions with the group.
“Ben was really close to being involved,” he confirmed. “I just don’t think Morgan and Duncan had done anything wrong to come out of it at the moment.
“Ben will get a couple of games over the next few weeks, and we’ll see where he’s at, but it’s certainly good to have him available.
“There’s a possibility he might play on Tuesday, but there’s a few like that. Not all of them, because I want to keep a training group as well for what we do this week, but there will be some who will play, because it’s a competition we have to treat with respect.”