No New Injuries Ahead of Derby Trip
Monday, 20th Aug 2018 15:05

Town boss Paul Hurst says he has no new injuries from Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Aston Villa, although Tayo Edun misses out as he serves his one match ban for his red card.

“Thankfully I think we’re all OK [from Saturday], so that’s pleasing as I was a little bit unsure about what squad I would have to select from,” Hurst said.

“That’s good news. Naturally, we haven’t done too much today with the exertions of Saturday and the fact one or two are still a little bit sore but nothing that will keep them away from selection. So we look forward to the next game and our trip to Derby.”

Ellis Harrison, Jon Nolan and Cole Skuse were among those to be nursing minor knocks after Saturday's match.

Does Hurst feel playing with 10 men from a few minutes before the break will have an impact on his players at Derby? “I think it was nearer 55 minutes with injury time, being a stickler for the details. I think we won’t know ultimately until the game’s under way and even then who’s to say that it’s specific to that? It depends how the game goes.

“Everyone always feels better if they get a first good touch of the ball and things are going well in the game. It’s amazing, you suddenly feel that you’ve got that little bit more energy. That’s what we’ll be looking for.

“We’ll see, it wasn’t ideal, that’s all I would say. But, as I think I said at the weekend, we’ve got to get on with it and that’s what we’ll do.”

Despite Town having played well with 10 men, he says it’s not something they’ve especially concentrated on in training.

“I think there are some practices you might do, more possession-based rather than specifically 11 v 11 and taking a player away,” he said.

“I’ve heard that some people do that and that’s fine, but I think it depends who you’re playing against and what formation you feel is best to adopt with those 10 men.

“That’s something me and [assistant manager] Chris [Doig] have spoken about before and have looked at different ways of doing it and often the 4-4-1 that we went to isn’t our preferred way of doing things.

“But we were looking at the opposition and the way they were playing, what they were looking to do and we thought that was the best way to go, so that was what we stuck with but, trust me, as it happened just before half-time and at half-time we were trying to scribble different ways to do it.

“I wanted to keep Gwion Edwards on the pitch and I think everyone would understand why. But a lot of the time it maybe a different way we might look to go, we wouldn’t have a winger out there but we felt that Gwion was still a threat for us.

“Again, it is in hindsight, but it looked a pretty good decision at the end of the game but it could have been different.”

Tom Adeyemi remains sidelined with his achilles injury and Luke Woolfenden with a knee problem, while Teddy Bishop and Danny Rowe are in the U23s squad this evening and won’t travel to Derby.

Photo: TWTD

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