Josh Davison is ready to play a part against Tranmere this weekend, after missing the last six weeks due to injury.
The striker, into double figures with ten goals to his name this season, has been involved in preparations for our final home game and could figure - as we aim to bounce back from a heavy defeat to Swindon.
“We’re hopeful,” said Johnnie. “Josh has started to reintegrate into training this week, so we’re hopeful that he can play some sort of part in the game.
“Alex Pearce is a bit further behind. We’re probably looking to step his training up next week and hopefully he can be involved in the last game against Grimsby. Obviously, we’re running out of time now with the games that we’ve got left.
“That’s two crucial players for us that have ended up missing a huge chunk of football and made things more difficult. If we can get them back out before the end of the season it’ll give everyone a lift, so we’re hopeful those guys can be involved.”
Johnnie is eager to make amends for last weekend’s loss and give our fans something to cheer about as we bring the curtain down on another campaign.
“We’ve doubled down on the hard work on the training pitch,” said Johnnie. “We’ve gone back over the Swindon game and there were some uncomfortable conversations off the back of it.
“The staff and the players have got a point to prove this weekend, because that hurt. I know it hurt the supporters. It’s important that we see a reaction and we try and put things right as best as we can. We can’t allow that to happen again.
“We want to finish the season as strongly as we can. There are six points to play for and that’s what we need to aim for. Starting with Saturday, we want to really put in a positive performance.
“We want to try and end the season with some positivity and give the supporters something to go home with. Obviously, there’s lots of work for us to do in the summer and that’s already started. As soon as that final whistle goes at Grimsby it will increase.”
Although Tranmere aren’t involved in the battle to go up through the play-offs, they are comfortable in mid-table. However, we did win 2-0 at Prenton Park when we were on a good run of form in November.
“Every team has got something to play for,” said Johnnie. “It doesn’t matter where they are in the league, everyone has their own motivation.
“We went to their place and beat them and during that period when we had a full roster of players. We were looking really strong and a tough side to play against.
“We performed really well that day and got a great result. We want to back that up now, but they’ll be thinking they don’t want us to do the double over them. It gives the game a little bit of an edge, which is good, because we need that.”
Pics: Pro Sports Images.