One of the standout moments of the game at Plough Lane on Saturday was a near 90-yard sprint from Joel Senior as he first tracked and then tackled lightning quick substitute Saikou Janneh.
A player still working his way back from a long-term ACL injury, he brushed all of that aside, along with what had to be a growing sense of fatigue, to help his team to protect their nets from what could have been an extremely dangerous break.
“Five minutes before that I was having a discussion with Gav Skelton because Joel had done another recovery run and he looked shattered,” gaffer Paul Simpson explained. “We were trying to work out what we could do to change it a little bit but he stuck to it, he got on his bike and he tracked him all the way.
“He made the tackle in the corner and, I have to say, I worked with Saikou at Bristol City and I know how rapid he is. Credit to Joel for doing that, but I just thought it was a big and energetic performance from everybody.
“But Joel showed an unbelievable attitude to do that when he was clearly tired. I took him out of it a couple of games ago to give him a rest more than anything, because I felt as though we were sort of pushing him a little bit.
“And if he's okay, he'll be pushed again on Tuesday and hopefully we can get Ben Barclay back fit again.
“We're also still waiting for Fin Back to him to get himself fully fit. His rehab is going really well. I messaged him in the last day or so to see how he's getting on and it’s still going to plan.
“We just want as many options available as we possibly can. I'm not happy with the injury list stacking up again.
“We've got a few people who are not available for us and we've got to just make sure we hang in there for when the likes of Taylor Charters and Ryan Edmondson get themselves back fit, and Ben Barclay's back in and Fin Back's back in.
“Once they’re back we've got an even stronger group to choose from.”
