South to East (London, that is) Leyton Orient away Sat 20th Jan 3-0'clock..

[GhostoftheBok]

And I knew it as soon as the ‘he has a hamstring thing we don’t think it’s much but he needs a scan’ line was trotted out. It was obvious.

Clearly we need some defenders in this window and urgently. I feel that we have left ourselves too light in the wing back areas and consequently stretched across the back and it’s coming to bite us.

Two weeks left thankfully but we need a couple in at the back now.

We all felt that in the summer. The difference was some felt we'd be alright until this window and some said it would be a disaster to go with the squad we had. We have managed to get away with the risk until now.

Geth getting called up was unforeseen and has exacerbated the issue. We have been after a right wing back for months, we now probably need some form a centre half - but then Evatt was talking about a more mobile MJ back in the summer too.

It's nothing new to the recruitment team. We'll see how they do.

Randy is apparently back and available, so that means it's not currently a crisis. We have to move quickly, but don't need to panic.

[GhostoftheBok]

Orient are holding a pitch inspection tomorrow. Can we play it up here behind closed doors? Jesus wept.

[The_Gun]

Forrester…ffs.

We can still pick a good side, just about.

Baxter

Toal Santos Iredale

Sheehan

JDC Dempsey Thomason Williams

Charles Vic


If those players are all available then we should still win, but we’re gonna need to do some good transfer work in these next two weeks.

[Mar]

Forrester…ffs.
We can still pick a good side, just about.
Baxter
Toal Santos Iredale
Sheehan
JDC Dempsey Thomason Williams
Charles Vic
If those players are all available then we should still win, but we’re gonna need to do some good transfer work in these next two weeks.

I doubt all those players are available. Williams has been notably absent since the away fixture at Luton and is possibly still out.

I'm expecting Ashworth to stand in instead, which leaves us significantly short of obvious defensive options on the bench.

Starting XI: Baxter, Toal, Santos, Iredale, Sheehan, JDC, Dempsey, Thomason, Ashworth, Charles, Vic
Bench: Coleman, Matheson, Morley, Maghoma, Bodvarsson, Jerome, B-teamer

B-teamer is anyone's guess. I would've thought Khumbeni would've been the obvious choice but his loan move didn't particularly stand him in good stead and he's not exactly known for the defender role.

It'll be interesting to see whether one of the defenders gets a nod to the bench.
Inwood, Yoro, Toure, Hayes-Green, Halford.

[GhostoftheBok]

I doubt all those players are available. Williams has been notably absent since the away fixture at Luton and is possibly still out.

I'm expecting Ashworth to stand in instead, which leaves us significantly short of obvious defensive options on the bench.

Starting XI: Baxter, Toal, Santos, Iredale, Sheehan, JDC, Dempsey, Thomason, Ashworth, Charles, Vic
Bench: Coleman, Matheson, Morley, Maghoma, Bodvarsson, Jerome, B-teamer

B-teamer is anyone's guess. I would've thought Khumbeni would've been the obvious choice but his loan move didn't particularly stand him in good stead and he's not exactly known for the defender role.

It'll be interesting to see whether one of the defenders gets a nod to the bench.
Inwood, Yoro, Toure, Hayes-Green, Halford.

Evatt said Williams *should* be available. He's apparently one of those who has been ill and now isn't. Vic was apparently sick when he put in that display against Luton...which is ridiculous.

If Williams is fit and the back three are all healthy then you'd expect Ashworth and Metheson on the bench as defensive options.

Dempsey has had a minor strain to his hamstring and has been resting it.

It sounds like we dropped the ball on Forrester, from the quotes, and played him with a strain which is now a tear. All this "we caught it just in time" stuff feels like arse-covering language. If a player comes off injured you didn't "catch it in time", but there you go. Maybe it's just Ian's weird phraseology, but we've heard this before during previous injury cri...well, not crises. What is this, an injury kerfuffle? An injury and illness regrettable period?

Hopefully Dempsey is fully recovered, as we know what can happen with him if these "minor" issues spiral.

CMG should be back next week. That's a start. Hopefully he'll return fully fit and can play their whole dead rubber for some match fitness.

[BWFC_Insane]

Forrester picked the injury up during the game. You can’t blame the manager or bench for it. Tight hamstring was the symptom and of course happens every week in football.

It’s just the language they used that gave away it probably would turn out not to be ‘nothing’. Sadly that’s the case.

Injuries happen but we’ve been asking for this problem through under recruitment in this area and now it’s urgent imho.

We will pick up more injuries at the back - it’s that time of year and also we ask our defenders to do a lot of running compared to what other sides might. So yes it’s foreseeable to me that JDC will likely be injured at some point, Williams seems to get plenty of injuries and Iredell isn’t that robust when played week in week out and certainly can’t be asked to regularly wing back.

So we need more. Not hindsight - we just do.

[GhostoftheBok]

Forrester picked the injury up during the game. You can’t blame the manager or bench for it. Tight hamstring was the symptom and of course happens every week in football.

Depends. Quite often a player will report a symptom and the physios will check it. If he's been injured during the game after reporting an issue then we've dropped one.

Happens a lot, but generally speaking the better your staff are the less often they'll let something pass that should be flagged.

It could well be that Forrester just pulled something that wasn't previously a problem. If so it's a weird thing to say they "caught it in time" when he's come off the field injured. Ian often says weird things, though.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Evatt also mentioned that Forrester wanted to play the second half, so it's possible the player - in his perhaps misguided determination - didn't help the diagnostic procedure.

[GhostoftheBok]

Evatt also mentioned that Forrester wanted to play the second half, so it's possible the player - in his perhaps misguided determination - didn't help the diagnostic procedure.

He's young. Perhaps a more experienced pro, who knows his body, says "I need to sit this out, gaffer" and we don't lose him for more than a couple of weeks.

[Mar]

Forrester picked the injury up during the game. You can’t blame the manager or bench for it. Tight hamstring was the symptom and of course happens every week in football.

Depends. Quite often a player will report a symptom and the physios will check it. If he's been injured during the game after reporting an issue then we've dropped one.

Happens a lot, but generally speaking the better your staff are the less often they'll let something pass that should be flagged.

It could well be that Forrester just pulled something that wasn't previously a problem. If so it's a weird thing to say they "caught it in time" when he's come off the field injured. Ian often says weird things, though.

Perhaps he would've been fit enough to play the second half, but that would've further compounded the issue. Caught in time might just be referring to proactive measures that can be taken to prevent an injury lasting a few months.

[GhostoftheBok]

Perhaps he would've been fit enough to play the second half, but that would've further compounded the issue. Caught in time might just be referring to proactive measures that can be taken to prevent an injury lasting a few months.

Yeah and it doesn't really matter anymore. He's out. We need someone in.

If he's played when he shouldn't have he will learn from it and speak up next time.

[Worthy4England]

Pity - he was settling in nicely...

[GhostoftheBok]

Having listen to Ian speak, rather than reading summaries, I think he's saying Randell had a hamstring issue that has kept him out - rather than he was ill. Perhaps it was both?

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Well, we go with what we've got for tomorrow. Was hoping Ennis would be over the line before the registration deadline, and thus eligible for a bench role tomorrow, but no.

Assuming, that is, that there is a game tomorrow. Although without the snow you folks had up north, it's been easily subzero here, so Orient's pitch could be frozen. An "afternoon" pitch inspection will tell us.

[GhostoftheBok]

Well, we go with what we've got for tomorrow. Was hoping Ennis would be over the line before the registration deadline, and thus eligible for a bench role tomorrow, but no.

Assuming, that is, that there is a game tomorrow. Although without the snow you folks had up north, it's been easily subzero here, so Orient's pitch could be frozen. An "afternoon" pitch inspection will tell us.

Not sure now I feel about this one.

Having this delayed would be bad, but I have experienced a "just about not frozen" pitch in an FA Cup tie and we lost 4 or 5 players from the experience. Ligament issues, hamstrings, etc.

Obviously I want to play and win, but if it's on I'll be almost as worried about a clean bill of health as the result.

[GhostoftheBok]

Game is officially on. Pitch currently dodgy, but should be okay by tomorrow.

[BWFC_Insane]

Forrester picked the injury up during the game. You can’t blame the manager or bench for it. Tight hamstring was the symptom and of course happens every week in football.

Depends. Quite often a player will report a symptom and the physios will check it. If he's been injured during the game after reporting an issue then we've dropped one.

Happens a lot, but generally speaking the better your staff are the less often they'll let something pass that should be flagged.

It could well be that Forrester just pulled something that wasn't previously a problem. If so it's a weird thing to say they "caught it in time" when he's come off the field injured. Ian often says weird things, though.

I think what he meant was he reported a tight hamstring during the game. Physios checked it out. He felt ok to play on. They made decision at half time to take him off as a precaution - and turns out it was torn if they had left him on likely would have been much worse.

[Prufrock]

That's how I read it too.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Not sure now I feel about this one.

Having this delayed would be bad, but I have experienced a "just about not frozen" pitch in an FA Cup tie and we lost 4 or 5 players from the experience. Ligament issues, hamstrings, etc.

Obviously I want to play and win, but if it's on I'll be almost as worried about a clean bill of health as the result.

They're very carefully calling it an "initial pitch inspection". Temperatures in E10 will drop below freezing again tonight – although only just.

[GhostoftheBok]

They're very carefully calling it an "initial pitch inspection". Temperatures in E10 will drop below freezing again tonight – although only just.

I'm sure it'll be fine. They said it was "playable" today, so with the covers on it should be reet.

Regardless of any associated risk, we need to play. It's winter football and that's life in the lower leagues.

Chequebook at the ready, Sharon m'dear.