Boss ready for home return...
WE MAKE a return to home soil after what seems like an eternity on the road!We feel that we have the momentum with us at the moment; Tuesday’s penalty shoot-out victory at Tranmere has given us all a boost.
It’s pleasing for us as a club to make progress in this competition and I was delighted with the character displayed by my players.
It was an exciting game and I was pleased for the fans, who gave us great backing all evening.
The opportunity is there for us, but for the time being our focus turns to the battle for League points and the visit of Barnsley.
It will be a tough game; they have a lot of experience in their side and we know that we are going to have to be at our best to get the result that we desire.
They like to pass it and play football, so it has all the ingredients to be an entertaining game.
It will be nice to see Hutch [Chris Hutchings] again as he comes here as part of the Barnsley coaching staff. I have a lot of time for him and took a lot of advice from him after he brought me back to the club as Head of Youth.
There’s a special Family Ticket offer at Saturday’s game as part of our festive Fun Day, so hopefully this will help create a great atmosphere inside the stadium with everyone right behind us.
Andy Taylor will be assessed in the lead up to the game as he looks to shake off a knee injury that sidelined him for the last game. Youngster, Rico Henry, came in and did an excellent job. It was such an accomplished performance from him and bodes well for the future.
James Chambers (cramp) and Jordan Cook (ankle) were forced off during the Tranmere game, but are expected to be available for selection, whilst Tom Bradshaw came straight back into the starting line-up and came through the full 90 minutes with no problems.
DEAN