Richard Naylor has seen his specialist again and has been given some new exercises aimed at trying to rid him of his knee problems. The Town striker’s last two seasons have been blighted by injuries caused by his biomechanics.

Operations last summer alleviated tendonitis but this was discovered to be merely the consequence of his posture, the way he moves and one leg being longer than the other. Since the middle of last season specialists have worked to improve matters on these fronts.

Manager George Burley said: "Richard has seen the specialist again and had been given different exercises to help him get things right."

Naylor’s dog is also in the news. His Boxer Denzil has qualified for next year’s Crufts after placing second in his class at last month’s show. Denzil’s kennel name is Vandenrob Premier’s Pride, a name given by breeder Denise Vanston in hope of Town winning promotion in 1998.

Titus Bramble will wait to see whether he is included in the England U21 side playing Greece this evening. The Town defender flew out later than most of the party after attending his grandmother’s funeral on Monday.

Bramble was in the side which beat Mexico 3-0 at Filbert Street recently.

Young Town striker Richard Logan was included in the England U18 side which lost 1-0 to Switzerland. Logan played for an hour before being replaced.

The Academy U16s played in a tournament near Paris over the weekend. Although they didn’t repeat the success of the U17s the trip was counted as a useful one.

The tournament consisted of group games of 15 minutes each way followed by play-offs.

They beat Lusitanos St Mair 1-0, then Villepinte FC by the same margin before drawing 0-0 with host side Ozoir VSOP. The final group match saw Town lose 2-0 after they conceded a dodgy penalty. In the play-off games they drew 0-0 with Les Lilas and won 1-0 against a second Ozoir team.

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