Joey Barton hopes to have Antony Evans and Nick Anderton back in contention soon after Bristol Rovers' 1-0 defeat at Carlisle United on Saturday.
The pair were surprise absentees in Cumbria as Rovers' four-game winning run was halted by a poacher's finish from Kristian Dennis 18 minutes from time. The Gas had chances throughout the game but lacked the clinical edge required to secure a result at Brunton Park.
The absence of playmaker Evans and left-back Anderton upset the continuity of selection Barton has overseen in recent weeks, and at full time he revealed both players missed out with minor injuries.
Anderton had travelled to Cumbria with his teammates but failed a late fitness test, while Evans missed out due to a calf niggle picked up in victory at Northampton Town a week ago.
"We lost Evo in the week to a little bit of a niggle," Barton said. "He’s a major source of creation and inspiration, and then losing Nick this morning to failing a fitness test after picking up a knock in training yesterday does disrupt you a little bit.
"We had to move Harry (Anderson) back around (to left-back) and we had to bring Sammy (Nicholson) in a little bit earlier than we’d want to do after he missed a bit of game time, but we’ve had more than enough quality out there today to get the job done and it’s three points that we’ll be disappointed on (losing) on reflection because I felt if we got the first goal here, we’d have cruised.
"We had more than enough quality out there today, and if we keep showing that endeavour and commitment for each other, we’ll get what we need to get us to where we want to go to between now and the end of the season."
Barton hopes both Evans and Anderton could be back in contention to face Bradford City next week, but couldn't rule out that they could miss slightly longer.
"Both are in with a shout (of playing next week), maybe the game after that," he explained. "I’m not sure now the games are spaced out a bit, but certainly we want to pick the same team. We’ve managed to do that through a lot of the Saturday, Tuesdays and sod’s law, the time you go Saturday to Saturday, you pick up a couple of niggles.
"I think it was from a tackle in the Northampton game (for Evans). He went into a tackle and the lad’s left the studs up the inside of his calf. We just felt it was a bruise and a kick, but it hasn’t transpired to be that.
"It’s ended up being a little bit more than a bruise and a kick, albeit it’s probably one or two games rather than five or six, which is good, but we certainly could have done with him today."
Barton believes his team was off-colour in attack at Brunton Park on Saturday but feels they were on the wrong side of the fine margins on Saturday.
"We felt we were fully in control of the game," Barton added. "At half time, we were just asking for a little more quality in the final third in and around the box.
"I never ever felt it was a game we were going to lose, but when it’s tight and 0-0… They’re in a bit of form and they had a passionate crowd behind them and we’ve managed to concede and give them something to hang on to.
"But I can’t fault the lads for their endeavour, they kept going right to the end. Sometimes. You need a little bit of luck in football. A ball from Elliot Anderson goes right the way along the six-yard line and Harvey Saunders is waiting to tap it in and their player deflects it just out of his reach. The ref misses it and we don’t get the corner, we don’t get the goal and Harvey ends up getting a yellow card for protesting.
"You need a little bit of luck sometimes and I thought today, I can’t question the lads' attitude and application, but we’re disappointed leave here with no points."
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