Giant striker Kyle Hudlin will be back with us next week, having recovered from a groin injury at his parent club Huddersfield Town.
“Kyle will rejoin us on Monday,” said Manager Johnnie Jackson after Thursday’s training session. “He’s done his rehab back up at Huddersfield. He was feeling good when we spoke to him. He’ll be back down with the group at the start of the week and in full training, so that he's available for selection.
“Everyone must fight for a place. Those boys that are in the team, they need to do well and stay in the team. Just because you have the shirt, doesn’t mean you should feel secure in that. It should always be about your next performance and what you need to do.
“Kyle has had the little niggle and he’ll be back in training. He’ll be competing for a place in the side, but obviously while he’s been away we’ve had players in his position that have been doing well, scoring goals, and playing great. That’s what we want – we want competition for places all over the squad, not just in those forward positions. Everyone should feel that if their performance levels dip, that there’s always someone ready to step in and take their place.”
Johnnie has no fresh injury concerns for Saturday’s League Two visit to Stockport County, but we will be missing young forward David Fisher for 11 weeks, following the recurrence of a hamstring injury.
“I’m really disappointed for Dav,” said Johnnie. “I was excited about him in pre-season. The way he started was great, then he got the hamstring niggle, and we built him back up. He got himself into the matchday squad and involved with the first team. It looked like he was going to be in and around it for the foreseeable future. Then he got that injury again at Brentford in the recent friendly. We’re really disappointed. It’s such a shame that he’s had another setback."
“We’ll stick by him and give him all the help that he needs. We’ll give him the best rehab that we can and help him along his way. He’s going to have dig in now, mentally. It’s always the most difficult thing for professional footballers when they’re injured, but he’ll be back stronger and back with us before too long.
“Stockport in the last few years have had a lot of success. They’re a big club, historically a league club. They found themselves out of the league and down the divisions, so they’ve done well to comeback. They’re competitive now they’re back in there and a big fish at League Two level.
“I‘ve had experience of playing there in my career. It is a big club and well supported. They really get behind their team and it should be a really good game for us.”
You can see the full preview with Johnnie Jackson below, via the link to our official YouTube channel.