Winger James Daly is “touch and go” to be available for Yeovil Town as they prepare to take on Gateshead in a lunchtime kick-off at Huish Park this weekend.
The winger has been unavailable for training needed “a few stitches” in his foot after a horror tackle from Carlisle United’s substitute Jonah Lowes in the final seconds last Saturday. The wild challenge from the 18-year-old came in the ten seconds following the restart after the visitors scored an equaliser deep into second half stoppage time.
The Glovers will also be without defender Jake Gubbins who is suspended after his sending off last weekend for picking up two yellow cards, but boss Billy Rowley revealed that central defender Loick Ayina was “fine” having suffered a knee injury which has kept him out of the opening fixtures of the season.
Speaking to BBC Somerset reporter Josh Perkins ahead of the weekend, the manager said: “JD came on, and I thought he helped us weather that storm we were dealing with with ten men, and he’s taken a blow to the foot. He’s missed training all week and he had to have a few stitches in his in his wound, so he hasn’t he hasn’t been out here. He just did a bit of running today, but I’m not sure if he’ll be available for the weekend, it’ll be touch and go.”
There was also an appearance in training from midfielder Joe Haigh, the summer signing who has yet to appear having undergone surgery in the summer.
The 23-year-old, who joined from National League South side Dagenham & Redbridge in the summer, went under the knife for a “minor ankle injury” which the Glovers were aware of when he signed. He is now out of a protective boot he had been wearing since his operation and back on the grass at the club’s Bristol training ground.
Rowley said: “Joe is still recovering from his ankle surgery, so he’s been in the gym a lot. I think he might be out here doing some running next week, which is pleasing to see.
“You can see his spirits lifted as soon as that boot came off, so we’re really looking forward to to seeing Joe back on the grass. I feel like it’ll be be like a new signing when he when he gets among the group, he’ll add his quality, so we’re really happy to see him out of the boot and hopefully we’ll see him on the pitch soon.”
Having been held to a 1-1 draw courtesy of a late equaliser at Scunthorpe on the opening day, the Glovers suffered further heart-break when Carlisle grabbed a point with just six seconds remaining last weekend having been with ten minute after Gubbins’ 65th minute red card.
Rowley admitted Lady Luck had not smiled on his side in either of their opening two games, but he was hoping for a bit more against Gateshead this weekend.
The boss said: “If you think back to Scunthorpe, the linesman has killed us (with an incorrect offside decision given against Luke McCormick) to go 2-0 up and then they score a great goal in the 89th minute which felt like a dagger to the heart for us.
“Then last week (against Carlisle) we do feel like both Joe’s yellow cards were justified, so we are not disagreeing with those. But, at 1-0 there are a couple of chances for us to get in the box and be a bit more clinical and then that game goes 2-0 to us at home and you would fancy us to hold on.
“So both those games are a little bit of a kick in the teeth, but it could be worse, we could be sitting here on zero points. In an ideal world we would have six points, but we have got two and we will be looking to get another three on Saturday.”
Striker Stephen Walker got his first goal since his summer signing from National League North side Scarborough Athletic against Carlisle and Rowley said he was pleased with his side’s attacking intent in that game.
He said: “We’ve obviously got some really talented front players that are that are exciting, some good one-v-one players which are some of my favourite players to watch. I think it’s just going to take some time for us to embed our ideas and feel really familiar and comfortable with what we’re asking the boys to do which is a bit of a process, but the early signs are good.
“I feel like we could get in the other team’s box a little bit more. We we should have threatened the opposition’s goal more, but I like our control in the middle part of the pitch and our play the final third is a lot better. It’s just about putting icing on the cake now and trying to trying to get some goals.”
This weekend’s opponents, Gateshead, picked up their first win of the season with a 2-0 victory at home to Woking last Saturday before drawing 1-1 with Nottingham Forest Under-21s in the National League Cup on Tuesday night.
They have former tough-tackling Sunderland midfielder Lee Cattermole in the dug-out after he was appointed to replace Rob Elliot, who quit to take over at Carlisle having led them to a miraculous escape from relegation last season.
Speaking about his opposite number this weekend, Rowley said: “Anyone who plays Premier League football is an incredible thing for anyone to achieve, so I have nothing but respect for that. I think a couple of our lads have been part of his training sessions before and they speak very highly of him, so I am expecting him to be a very successful manager and I am looking forward to meeting him. Hopefully we beat them, but hopefully there will be a chance to have a chat with him afterwards and chat to him about football.”
One familiar face in the Gateshead squad will be defender Kyle Ferguson who played 21 of the 34 matches he featured in for Yeovil last season under Rowley. The Scotsman was one of a number of players released by the Glovers at the end of last season and signed a two-year contract on Tyneside – and scored the second goal in last weekend’s victory.
Rowley said: “I really like Fergie, he’s a top lad for us. I had a few calls in the summer about about managers asking about him and and gave him great character reference, so it’ll be good to see him.
“Sam (Curry, the club’s analyst) has been watching them in the past 48 hours, he saw them play Forest Under-21s on Tuesday and they looked like they have got some good ideas. I think they’ve got some some decent players, so it looked like Lee hastried to embed some some new ideas in the past couple of games. We’ve got to be mindful of that, but I think in terms of our preparation we’ll be pretty solid. Every game is in this league is going to be difficult and the worst thing we could do is turn up thinking we’ve won already.“