Player availability has dominated the agenda for Bristol Rovers this week with an unfortunate run with injuries being compounded by more knocks and suspensions to limit the pool of options available to manager Joey Barton.
Lincoln City are the visitors to the Mem on Saturday and with defensive resources down to the bare bones, Barton has to come up with creative solutions.
Amid the run of unwelcome news, there has been some respite for Barton with one injury not as bad as first feared, while Alfie Kilgour's suspension has been scrubbed off after The FA upheld Rovers' appeal. That has softened eased some of the issues that were facing Barton ahead of the clash with Mark Kennedy's Imps, although there are still several important players who will be unavailable.
Here is what Barton had to say about the state of his squad at Thursday's pre-match press conference...
Harry Anderson
Within seconds of kick-off at Portman Road, Barton's game plan suffered a huge dent. The breakaway speed of Harry Anderson, coupled with his defensive work ethic, meant he was earmarked as a key player against Ipswich.
But his foot was trodden on soon after kick-off and, although he bravely played on for a few minutes, he could not continue. Rovers' early assessment was a suspected broken toe for the versatile winger, which would have been a significant blow given Anderson's ability to cover a number of positions.
But scans have shown up better than expected for the Gas, with Anderson due back in action in days rather than weeks, though Saturday's game against his former club may come too soon.
“We’ll see how that settles down," Barton said. "It’s great news from that regard because we thought it was a broken toe or a broken foot. Thankfully it’s not because that would have meant a really long layoff. Sometimes bruising can be very, very painful and sometimes bone bruising can feel worse than a break.
“So hopefully it settles down quickly but is that going to bring him into Saturday’s contention, I’m not sure. We’re judging it day by day but we’re hoping it’s days, rather than weeks.”
Lewis Gibson
Barton has been impressed by what he has seen from Everton loanee Gibson so far, but niggling injuries have limited the 22-year-old to just four appearances since joining the Gas.
The centre-back has been dealing with a minor calf tear in the past fortnight and appears unlikely to feature against Lincoln.
“He hasn’t trained today (Thursday) so I think he’s going to struggle," Barton said. "I think he’s got a realistic chance of next week, and it’s frustrating but you kind of know you’re going to sign yourself up for it with these players who have had tough injury spells.
“And, for me, it’s a case of by the end of this year, you’re hoping to get him into a place where he can play a lot more regularly.”
Josh Grant
Grant's start to the season has been even more frustrating than Gibson, being limited to just one substitute appearance due to a knee issue. It is not a major problem and he has been able to get some training into his legs, but it is niggling away in the background.
When fit and available, the 23-year-old's positional versatility is a huge asset to his manager and Barton wants him back as soon as possible, while acknowledging the best course of action is to build Grant's match fitness methodically.
“Josh is in the same boat (as Gibson), he’s such a talented boy but you don’t get a chance to get your talent in play if you don’t get out on the grass. He doesn’t need me bleating on about it, you can see he’s so frustrated because he feels he makes two steps forward and then three or four back.
“I wish I could say, ‘look, here’s my legs, they’re a bit fat and hairy but you can have them. I’ll take yours on, with all your aches and pains and you can have mine’.
“You just have to trust the process, we have the best people we can have with the resources we have and we provide as much as we can to the boys.”
Alfie Kilgour
Kilgour is one of the names not on the injury report, but he was due to miss Saturday's game due to a late red card picked up at Ipswich. The centre-back protested his innocence at the time after Conor Chaplin fell to the deck at Portman Road and Kilgour has been vindicated with Rovers' appeal proving successful.
Needless to say, Barton is delighted to have the 24-year-old available.
“It’s good, it restores your faith in the judicial process," Barton said. "It is a bit of respite as from having thought I had lost both my available centre-halves, to have one of them available certainly gives us a bit of positive news.
“There was no malice in it, they just crossed paths. Thankfully the FA have rescinded it. We lost Alfie for five minutes in the game and it didn’t cost us, we wouldn’t have won the game but we didn’t concede any goals which would have affected our goal difference so common sense has prevailed.”
The long term
Centre-back James Connolly (back), full-back James Gibbons (foot) and striker Josh Coburn (knee) remain weeks away from being involved. October has been the target month for all three players to return to fitness, although it is understood Coburn could be unavailable until the back end of next month as he continues to rehab his injury at Middlesbrough's Rockliffe Park headquarters.
Midfielder Jordan Rossiter, meanwhile, will fulfil his three-match suspension for violent conduct on Saturday, meaning he will be back in contention for the visit of Accrington Stanley on September 24. Defender Bobby Thomas will also return then after completing his one-match ban.
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