Boss hopeful of squad availability.
SHRIMPS’ boss Jim Bentley is hopeful that he will have the majority of his squad available for the weekend’s visit of Notts County.
Bentley admitted the dressing room looked like the “walking wounded’’ after the dramatic 3-3 draw with Portsmouth last week and admitted he was pleased the Shrimps had no midweek game as he would have been desperately low on numbers.
He said: “We’d rather have got through in the Capital One Cup and had a game but I honestly think we’d have struggled to field a side.
“It’s been a bit of a blessing we’ve had the whole week to get everyone right.
“We’ve had a behind-closed-doors game in Wigan that quite a few of the others have played in to get up to speed and we’ll do all we can to make sure they’re right mentally and physically ahead of what is another big game at the Globe on Saturday.”
In addition to suspensions for Ryan Edwards and Kevin Ellison, the list of those with bumps and bruises is a lengthy one with Adam Dugdale’s nasty eye injury the most gruesome of the lot.
Bentley said: “I thought Adam Dugdale was excellent on his debut last week, especially getting through the full 90 minutes in the way he did.
“He got a nasty bang on the eye and slit his eyeball which was bleeding. But he soldiered on and got on with it.
“He was an absolute mess on Monday morning and saw the doctor but we hope he’ll be aright for the weekend.’’
He added: “Alan Goodall went off with a heel injury, Laurence Wilson had a slight problem, Shaun Beeley had a fitness test before the game, Andy Parrish had a bit of a bad back, we knew Tom Barkhuizen was going to blow up because he’s not played much football and is an explosive player and Shaun Miller was playing his second game in a week having not played much.
“It’s very tough and we’re the walking wounded at the moment with regards to injuries and suspensions but that’s football and we’ve just got to get on with it.
“We’re hoping that the physio Simon Farnworth and the doctor can do their work and the majority of the people who’ve had bumps and bruises will be fine for the weekend.’’