Will Nightingale could be back in Wimbledon’s squad for the home match against Shrewsbury on Saturday after he returned to full training today.
Our captain missed out on the squad for the trip to Swindon due to a knee injury, but Glyn Hodges confirmed that Will is now back in full training.
“Will hurt his knee in training and he had a scan as a precaution,” said our manager. “He played against Leyton Orient, but he wasn’t comfortable with it, so he had a scan. It came back all-clear, it was just a bit of bone bruising, and that was the reason he was out at the weekend. Will trained today, so we have a full complement of players.”
Striker Ollie Palmer has made good progress this week in his recuperation from a groin operation, but Saturday will come too soon for his return.
“We had an in-house game for Ollie on Tuesday and he came through it fine, so he’s a step closer, but not quite close enough. He’s in with the lads, in with the group, and he’s working hard daily, so it’s only a matter of time.”
Hungarian Dan Csoka came in for his league debut at Swindon last week and Glyn believes he offered a real assurance to the defence.
“He’s a good footballer, and he has a good brain," added Glyn. "He reads things and he’s calm. Dan obviously came in and it was all new to him, he’s basically learning on the job at the moment, but he’s confident. I felt that his performances in the EFL Trophy warranted a start, and he gave us a nice balance on Saturday. He acquitted himself really well.”
Our manager added that preparations had gone well for Saturday’s match, which offers a chance to earn a first home league victory of the season.
“Wins are vitally important and now we want back to back wins. We got a win on the road before, and we slipped up at home, so it’s just about making sure we pick-up the points. At the moment, we seem to be enjoying our performances away, and we look forward to those matches, but we’ve got to stamp our authority on home games. We have two games at QPR and hopefully we can go out on a high and get two wins out of two.
“After getting a result on the Saturday it’s always a nice week. We look forward to coming in, everyone has been on it, and it’s been a good week.”
Jaakko Oksanen has returned unscathed from his midweek international match for Finland Under-21s in Denmark and he took a full part in training today.
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