Injuries. They’ve been the bane of our season, and had we remained largely injury-free, I strongly believe we’d be looking at Saturday as a chance to go easy on a few players instead of having to go out and win the game.
This weekend is shaping up to be a real humdinger, but we’re going to be doing it without a couple of key players. In his pre-match interview, Michael Skubala scuppered hope of Reeco Hackett making an appearance against his old club, putting him in the same boat as Anthony Scully and Regan Poole. They’re both out for Pompey, so the big reunions will have to wait (hopefully until next season).
“Reeco’s not going to make it,” said Michael ahead of the huge clash. “Teddy’s touch and go again. Unfortunately, Rico’s not going to make this one.”
With Ted being ‘touch and go’ it seems there’s a chance he could play a part if we progress. Of course, with it being the last game, it does seem like that’s the last we’ll see of Reeco, but even if we get through to the semi-finals a week on Saturday, it seems the wide man will miss out.
“We’ve got a few more assessments to make of Reeco, but I think Reeco could be done for the season. We’ll have to see again on that.”
However, Michale then laid down a tantalising titbit of information that’s likely to send supporters into a guessing frenzy. Having mentioned Ted and Reeco, he then added something else (with what I’m pretty sure was almost a little smile).
“We might have one player back,” he said. Again, we’re assessing that one, so we’ll see.”
That’s a massive interest to City fans because it suggests someone we are not expecting could be coming back from injury. We know Dylan Duffy is back from suspension, but it sounded very much like we could see someone we haven’t seen for a while. That means it could be one of four.
Firstly, Ethan Hamilton. That does seem unlikely, as we were told the best we’d hope for Ethan was pre-season, and there have been no mentions of him on social media or the like. The same goes for Conor McGrandles; I was led to believe by a source that he would likely be fit at the end of May, which is too late for the big finale. Has his recovery progressed significantly since I was told that at the Wigan game? I’m not so sure.
There’s also Lewis Montsma. He’s been pictured in training recently, and with his contract up in the summer, the club has a big decision to make. Is the big Dutchman going to feature on the bench, either giving fans a chance to say goodbye or a glimpse into the future and his fourth season as an Imp?
Finally, what of Tyler Walker? The striker was pictured doing community work at the prison recently, and despite being ruled out for the season, we were told he could be back if everything was successful. Are we going to end the season with a full complement of strikers to choose from, namely Joe Taylor, Ben House, Freddie Draper, Jovon Makama, and Tyler Walker?
Or are we just reading too much into the comments?
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