City host Exeter City tomorrow, looking for the points to move towards mathematical safety.
Last week’s win against Bristol Rovers moved us 13 points clear of Burton Albion, making relegation highly unlikely, but it will be nice to keep sealing points to put that demon to bed. Exeter, unbeaten in five matches, will be no pushover, but the Imps are in confident form, having scored nine in two home matches.
Two players won’t be taking part this weekend. Actually, three players won’t, as Bailey Cadamarteri is likely finished with us now, but two of our own players will miss out – striker Freddie Draper and midfielder Ethan Erhahon.
The latter is one of our top assets, and as Michael Skubala explained in his pre-match interview, he won’t be rushed back for the sake of it.
“He’s progressing nicely, but still a bit of time off,” said the Imps head coach. “He’s running on the grass, so that’s excellent news. He’s not with team training yet, but he started running on the grass. You know, we’ll probably see him in and around a few weeks.”
When asked how long he was likely to be out, Michael didn’t like to put a timescale on it, suggesting it might be season over for the Scot.
“It’s hard to say at the moment because we need to rescan and see how that’s healing. With Ethan’s injury, we need to keep rescanning it to make sure that we’re seeing the repair going well. Because again, with a tendon injury, you don’t want that to come back out of nowhere. So it’s a bit of a steady process for him.
“But, you know, I hope to see him five, six games, maybe rest of the season. That’s what we’re hoping for Ethan.”
Freddie Draper is another likely absentee, but he will be seen before the end of the season. The academy graduate has four goals this season, and with us swapping to one striker, his absence doesn’t feel ‘critical’. However, it will be nice to get him back, and that’s possibly going to be in time for Huddersfield in ten days.
“Freddie’s out at the moment. He’s got a bit of a hit from the Birmingham game, but he’s a lot closer. So he’s on the grass. He’ll be back in team training this week, no doubt, but he’s probably more 10 days, 14 days off.”
The injury situation doesn’t quite look as bad as at some points this season. Losing two strikers at this stage of the campaign would usually be tricky, but with James Collins in good form and Ben House also available, the 4-2-3-1 formation feels like it has come at the right time.
As for Ethan Erhahon, given his potential market value of more than £1 million, it’s best to wrap him up in cotton wool, especially when we reach the point where were 100% safe. Which, to all intents and purposes, we are right now.
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