Michael Stone discussed the latest injury situation with us on Thursday, ahead of Good Friday's 7:45pm Kick Off against Crawley.
Perhaps the one negative from Tuesday was the injury to Michael Corcoran ?
It was. We are really disappointed for him. I think his form in the past few games has been the best since I've been here at the Football Club. It's been excellent - not just his defensive displays and how brave he is when he competes, but he also offers us something at set pieces and in attack, and he goes and makes things happen for us. He's also a leader - for someone so young he shows good leadership qualities, so we're really disappointed for him.
It's a hamstring injury which you have to be very careful with. The Physio has assessed it, and if we get him back for any period of time in the regular season, or if we do manage to secure that playoff position, then that's going to be a bonus.
It certainly hasn't been ruled out - the Phys thinks that as he's a very fit lad, and if he gets his rehab right and thing mend correctly, there's a chance he might play before the end of the season or if we were to get into the playoffs. That's good news to an extent - it could have been worse, and we might have been talking about a return for pre-season.
With your position, you don't have to rush him back for the next couple of weeks though ?
We don't, and we know that is important with that kind of injury, as you can lose someone for two or three months if you rush them back. It's important that we don't - and we have a top Physio in Simon (Parsell), and he knows how to treat it, and if there is a chance he can play before the end of the season he will make that happen.
Simon Downer has been for a scan - what is the result of that ?
Positive. It didn't show anything conclusive, which is a "plus". With Simon it's about managing anything day-to-day and week-to-week. The scan might not show up anything, and it's about wear and tear, and only Simon himself will know how to treat his own body, so we have to manage Simon daily. It's very positive news, and hopefully that means we will see him back involved sooner rather than later.
Perhaps not over the weekend ?
Like with Michael, we are in a position where we don't need to force anyone to play, and then find out we are going to be without them for two or three weeks. It's crunch time right now, and Simon has trained today, which is a big plus, and he was involved in a full session, so we'll wait to see if there is any reaction from that, and then hopefully the manager will have a decision to make whether or not to involve him again.
Paul Terry - any news on him ?
Again, Paul's injury status is a "plus" which is good news. He's trained today, and got through the whole session, so that's ahead of schedule, as his original diagnosis was he'd be out for two or three weeks, whereas it's been only 10 days so far. Paul is one of those players who is a nightmare to keep indoors, and Simon (Parsell) was already pleading with us to get him back outside.
That's what you want in players, to be fair, Paul bounces around, banging his head against brick walls when he's stuck indoors, as he wants to be out there training, he wants to be playing in these matches, so it doesn't surprise me to see him back in training ahead of schedule. He's training hard to try and force himself back into the picture.
Will he be in contention for the weekend, assuming there is no reaction ?
Assuming there is no reaction - I think tomorrow might come too quickly. He's only trained today for the first time. Also, credit to Macca (Nicky McNamara), he's come in and done very well in two really tough games.
With the two games in quick succession you'll have been looking to make use of the squad anyway ?
We'll assess it, and one plus point is that we have a Friday night game rather than a Saturday game, which gives us a bit more distance between the two matches. It allows us to bring the boys in over the weekend, so see if any fatigue has kicked in, and see if there are any niggles or injuries prior to Monday.
