Injury-hit Yeovil Town have had a triple boost with defender Joy Mukena and midfielders Dakari Mafico and Jonathon Page all expected to be available for this weekend’s visit by FC Halifax Town.
Mukena was expected to be absent after he limped off with a re-occurrence of a hamstring injury which has troubled him since his arrival at Huish Park in the 2-1 defeat at Eastleigh on Easter Monday, whilst Mafico and Page have both been missing for more than a month.
Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Jack Killah, manager Billy Rowley said: “We’ve had a tiny bit of good news in terms of Joy. I think he had a better reaction in the past couple of days after the (Eastleigh) game and did a bit of training yesterday and felt good, so Joy’s potentially available for Saturday, so that’s great news. Dak will be back with us for Saturday as well, and Jon Page as well. Obviously it is great news to get those three boys back in and it leaves us in a better place moving in to the (Halifax) game.“
Halifax arrive at Huish Park with an outside chance of making the National League Premier Division play-off places, albeit relying on other teams above to slip up. They sit one place outside the top seven, five points behind seventh-placed Southend United who have played two games fewer than them.
They were held to a 2-2 draw at home to Tamworth on Easter Monday, having nicked a late winner at Altrincham on Good Friday.
Rowley said: “I have been impressed by them. They are well coached and play a similar style to us, they have got some really good players and have done a great job this season. They are turning up at Huish Park playing for a massive three points for them and their push (for the play-offs) but we have had some good results against some good teams at home and that is something we are going to try and do again on Saturday.
“It’s always fun to spoil some parties here and there, but you never mean any malice in that. It just adds a little bit of spice to the game, you know? Halifax will turn up with a decent away support on Saturday and then we’re going to move to York the following week and I imagine that is going to be an unbelievable crowd there and a great atmosphere and I think every footballer since you’re a young child, you want to play in those games. We’ve got three games left and we’re going to be putting all of our efforts into getting good results and we’ll see where we finish.“
Despite the defeat at Eastleigh, results elsewhere meant our place in the division was secured on Easter Monday and Rowley admitted it has been quite a change from his former club, Walton & Hersham, who clinched the Southern League Premier Division South title last weekend.
He said: “I came from a privileged position. We worked really hard at (Walton) to create a winning culture and a winning team there, so I was used to kind of winning most weekends. We walked in to a job at a club at the opposite end of the table, but losing one of the best centre backs I have seen at this level in Morgan Williams in the first couple of weeks was not ideal. Then more recently we lost Luke McCormick, our top scorer, vice-captain and a good character, so it was really difficult losing two top level players but I feel like some of the loan signings have stepped up well. It has been game by game really, just trying to win or draw as a minimum of every game we were playing. We have had some decent enough results, but I and as well as every supporter, we want to improve on this next season. We definitely want to be looking up and not down, that’s for sure.”