Nick Daws today confirmed that Terell Thomas is fit to face Gillingham on Tuesday night (6.00 pm kick-off).
“Terell has trained today, he just had a niggle and as a precaution we used the additional substitution on Saturday, which also gave Ben some minutes,” said Wimbledon’s Assistant Manager. “Everybody has trained today, which is great and really positive. The boys are flying and they want to keep the momentum going.”
The match in Kent is the first of two games in three days with Wimbledon at Barrow for an Emirates FA Cup first round tie on Thursday, and victory there would mean a second round game at home to Crawley on Sunday.
Despite the difficult schedule ahead, Nick believes that the squad are well equipped to cope, thanks to the recruitment drive during the summer and diligent preparations for the season.
“There are a group of boys who have not been able to get game-time recently, but you wouldn’t know that when you are walking about at the training ground. They are a great group of players and they are all focusing on one thing, which is doing the right thing for the football club, knowing that their opportunities will come. Moving beyond a week or so, we are still way behind the number of league games that we would normally have played at this stage of the season, and we are still in the FA Cup and Papa John’s Trophy. There are going to be plenty of games, and the fact that we’ve been able to build such a talented, fit and robust, group of players is a real positive.
“When we walked back from the training ground on Thursday, I talked to Glyn and we said that we were amazed by how sharp and bright the boys looked. They were bright on Friday and they carried that into Saturday’s game. There is nothing but positives coming from it, but that's testament to the work we’ve put in since we came back for pre-season training, which was a little bit earlier than some. When players train regularly right the way throughout the week that builds up robustness, and they’ve been able to do that. We know that we’ve got a fit bunch of players, as well as a talented group of players, so that gives you confidence.”
Asked for an update about injured pair Jaakko Oksanen and Luke O’Neill – both are sidelined with ankle injuries – Nick said: “They are going to be out for a significant period of time, which is a shame for them, and us. With Luke’s injury, bringing in Ben to provide support in the centre-back positions is key. I thought Anthony was excellent on Saturday, which was great for him. He has to show that consistency, which I know he’s capable of, but we also have other players who can play in that position, including Callum Reilly and Alex Woodyard. Ultimately, we want to get Luke and Jaakko back as quickly as we can, but it has to be at the right time.”
Click on the link below to watch Rob Cornell's full interview with Nick.