Bristol Rovers boss Joey Barton gave a comprehensive update on the fitness of his squad ahead of Saturday's trip to Hull City.
With the games coming thick and fast in this concertinaed season, many Gas players are managing injuries and niggles as the fixture chaos takes its toll.
Barton has received mixed news on key players, while there are a couple of members of his squad who could be last-minute calls to play at the KCOM Stadium on Saturday with Rovers in need of points to boost their hopes of avoiding relegation from League One.
Here is the latest news from the Rovers physio's room...
Brandon Hanlan
The striker is a pivotal part of Barton’s tactical plans for Rovers, but the striker has once again missed training due to a sore Achilles tendon.
He was a doubt for the game against Shrewsbury last week, but played despite not training.
He has not trained since Tuesday’s defeat at Burton Albion, and Barton says Rovers will make a late call on whether he is available to take part at the KCOM Stadium.
“Brandon Hanlan hasn’t trained for the last couple of days and may not be fit,” the manager said.
“We don’t have a like-for-like replacement and tactically what we can do with Brandon in the number nine and off the sides of that is slightly different from what we have to do with other players, so we’ll have assess their bodies this morning.
“I did say last week Brandon was touch and go for Shrewsbury and he’s managing an issue. Credit to the boy, he’s probably playing on 80 per cent capacity at the minute and we’ve got to be careful with what we do with him, because the games are coming thick and fast.
“We’ve not got a period where we can get a breather into him at any point, and if he breaks down it would severely decrease the options we have in an attacking capacity.”
Anssi Jaakkola
Rovers were hopeful their Finland international would be fit to play any day now, but he has suffered a setback.
The goalkeeper, who has not played since December, was due to play in Wednesday’s under-23s game against Bournemouth but was pulled out under the advice of a specialist, and Jaakkola’s return has been put on hold.
“I thought he was going to play on Wednesday in the reserve game, but he had to go see the specialist and he’s not given us great news,” Barton said.
“It’s going to be longer. He’s been told at least another two weeks, but that could eat into another month.
“We thought he would be back in contention, but that’s not going to be the case. We’re having to monitor that. He could get fit, get called up to the national team and be away with them for a period.
“It’s a strange one, I haven’t even seen him. He’s trained for a couple of days and he hasn’t joined in with the main body of the group so I haven’t had my eyeballs on him. Luckily for us, we’ve had Jordi and Joe.
“Anssi seems a big character in the group and it would have been a boost to get him back because we need all hands on deck now. We’ll just have to be patient and wait for the specialist to sign him off and hopefully it’s sooner rather than later.”
Joe Day
Thankfully for the Rovers boss, he has received good news on one of his goalkeepers.
Cardiff City loanee Day has cleared concussion protocol after being knocked out against Shrewsbury last Saturday and is set to start at Hull.
George Williams
The defender was taken off late in the game at Burton after landing awkwardly on his foot.
Barton has confirmed Williams has an ankle issue and the January signing is a doubt to play at Hull.
The manager said: “We were really concerned, because there was nobody near him, and usually when a player goes down and there’s nobody in the vicinity you do worry about those types of injuries.
“He has got an issue with his ankle. He will probably train minimally today, just to get him back moving, and he’ll be another like Brandon who we may have to address first thing in the morning.
“Hopefully they don’t get to the stage where it’s fitness tests, but if they’re not ready it will be an opportunity for somebody else.”
Luke Leahy
Like Williams, stand-in skipper Luke Leahy was taken off in the closing minutes at the Pirelli Stadium, but Barton has confirmed the left-sided defender trained on Thursday and will be fit for Saturday’s game.
Max Ehmer
Ehmer, too, is fit to play after suffering a shoulder injury three weeks ago. He may need surgery at the end of the season, but the club are satisfied the problem can be managed and he has enough training in his legs to feature again on Saturday after a brief substitute appearance at Burton.
Long-term injuries
Abu Ogogo and Josh Barrett are nursing hamstring injuries that could see them miss the remainder of the season.
