Town boss Kieran McKenna says Town have had a good week on the injury front with Sone Aluko back in training and Marcus Harness back in the gym following his knee surgery and the Blues hopeful that he will be back around the new year, but the Blues manager kept his cards closer to his chest regarding some of the club’s shorter-term absentees.
The Blues have had a lengthening injury list in recent weeks but finally there has been better news with Aluko, who has been out since September with a knee problem, making his return to the grass.
"We’ve had a good week on the injury front in general with Sone Aluko returning to training, which has been a big boost, well ahead of schedule and he’s looked terrific,” McKenna said.
"Lee Evans [also knee] is recovering well now and is starting to get some work in on the grass as well, so he’s a little bit ahead of schedule.
"And Marcus is back in and straight back to work in the gym with no crutches or braces or anything like that. It feels like it’s been a positive week in general.
"Janoi [Donacien] and Freddie [Ladapo] and Greg [Leigh] and Panutche [Camara], the injuries that we have that are hopefully a little bit more short-term, some of them are going to make it, for some it’s going to probably be a little bit early to start and some won’t make the squad.
"And with the injuries that we’ve had, I don’t want to reveal which ones because with the numbers we’ve got, I’d pretty much be announcing our team to Fleetwood more than 24 hours before a game, which wouldn’t do us any favours.
"It feels like it’s been a pretty positive week. Some of the boys are going to fall just on the line of being ready and some will just miss out.
"Of course, we won’t take any risks, but we feel like we’ve got a competitive team in mind for the game.”
Regarding the length of time Harness might be out, he added: "The surgery went as well as it could. We hope that it’ll be in and around the new year, depending on his recovery, but, as I said, it was a pretty minor operation and he’s back doing gym work straight away, so it’s good news.”
McKenna says his squad should be stronger going into early January with the need for immediate strengthening when the window opens - either via recalling loanees or making early signings - having been reduced.
"The timing has been quite interesting as we lost a few like Sone Aluko in September time, Greg Leigh came back a bit earlier but they looked like they would be in and around three-month injuries, which brings you up to January,” the Blues manager reflected.
"We knew that the case was going to be that we were going to be tighter on numbers until January and I think in general we’ve coped with that very well but we still have a big and challenging month ahead, there’s no doubt about that.
"But we think that in the new year we’ll be much stronger in terms of numbers but that’s not going to deter us from strengthening the areas that we want to if we can.
"But I think numbers-wise we’ll be in a much better position post-January than we are now.”
McKenna says younger players have been required to augment training when required due to the lack of senior fit players.
"That’s the case,” he continued. "Of course, some days you want to have 20 outfielders to be able to do 11-v-11 practices and other days you’re happy to work with smaller numbers.
"That hasn’t changed in terms of our general way of working, but there’s been more of the younger players up, which is nice as well and a good opportunity for them.
"We haven’t had a big training week with the game on Sunday eating into that training week a little bit, but I’ve enjoyed training. I think it’s been publicised we’ve moved across to our new pitches as well, which has given everyone a good boost and the boys have prepared really well and are looking forward to the game.”