Notts County are battling illness as well as injuries ahead of Tuesday's National League showdown with top-of-the-table Stockport County.
The Magpies take on the in-form league leaders at Edgeley Park (7.45pm) as they seek a boost to their own promotion hopes.
But it seems their preparation for the crunch clash has been far from ideal.
Head coach Ian Burchnall admitted it was a "difficult situation", with "a lot of players not well".
"There's a lot in the squad at the moment, to be honest," said Burchnall at his pre-match press conference on Monday.
"Very few in training this morning, a lot of players not well.
"So it's not an easy situation at the minute - but I'm hoping a few can get through it and play the game.
"So that combined with the injuries, it's a difficult situation, but we're doing our best with it.
"We did our best on Friday (a 2-1 defeat to Wrexham in the FA Trophy). You could see we had to rotate a lot and we didn't have much on the bench.
"I don't mean that disrespectfully to Mr (Michael) Doyle, my good assistant (who was named on the bench)! But Jayden (Richardson) wasn't fit to play and so we were really (down to the) bare bones.
"But I thought we still gave a really good account of ourselves and played a strong game against Wrexham, performance-wise.
"So that shows the players are willing to step up when needed, and they're going to have to do that again tomorrow."
Burchnall is set to be boosted by the return of Nottingham Forest loanee Richardson and striker Kyle Wootton, who missed the Wrexham game due to illness.
Wootton trained on Monday and is "OK", but Eli Sam is "still unwell" so will not feature at Stockport.
Like Wootton, Richardson came through training on Monday, and Burchnall said: "Jayden's in a good place now. He needed that break.
"He played a lot of football. He's come from playing under-23s football and not masses of senior first-team football this season.
"Then he came in and suddenly was playing Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday.
"He's an explosive player and it accumulated, so we had to protect him a bit, which we've done.
"But he felt really good today, so that's great.
"It's a huge boost. He's been excellent for us. But having said that, I thought Dion (Kelly-Evans) came in and gave a really good account of himself against Wrexham.
"So there's good competition in there but Jayden has certainly brought a new dimension to us, and we're happy to have him back."
Elsewhere, Richard Brindley comes back into contention as he continues to manage an Achilles tendon problem, while Kyle Cameron is making good progress on his return from injury.
"He (Cameron) was on the grass today, so actually that's much quicker than we thought," said Burchnall.
"This week, of course, is too soon but we have kind of got an eye on maybe the Boreham game next week.
"So we're hoping it's not too long. It wasn't anything too serious but just enough for a couple of weeks out."
Stockport are on a 17-match unbeaten run in all competitions, dating back to December. Remarkably, 16 of those have been wins, only dropping points in a 2-2 draw with Chesterfield.
Dave Challinor's side are four points clear of Chesterfield at the top with two games in hand, and six ahead of third-placed Wrexham.
Notts are eighth, 13 points off the top, as they now target a play-off spot - though they did beat Stockport 2-1 at Meadow Lane in October.
"I think against some of the top teams, we've played some really good games," said Burchnall.
"We take a lot from that but we have to realise that they changed the coach there and Dave Challinor has gone in and really, really got them going.
"It's no secret the run they're on and the quality that they've played with, and the quality they've got within the squad.
"They're a really, really good football team, so of course it's a big challenge going away there - but this is what we're in it for, we want to play in these sort of games.
"I think it will be a good atmosphere and a lot of fans there.
"At the moment, they are kind of running away with it a little bit at the top but it's up to us to try to peg them back."
Asked if Stockport were nailed on to win the title, Burchnall added: "No, not dead certs - but they look very, very strong.
"They're in pole position but there is still a lot of football to be played and there are a couple of teams around them that are hitting form at the moment, like Wrexham and Chesterfield.
"I think it will be tight at the top, still.
"We're a little bit away from fighting for that top spot. Our aim now is to finish as high as we possibly can in the play-offs.
"I don't think they are necessarily going to run away with it. I'm sure Dave Challinor and Stockport would say that's certainly not the case.
"So we'll see, but right now, they are the in-form team and they certainly deserve to be where they are."
