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Wanderers will welcome Xavier Amaechi back into the squad for this weekend’s home game against Sunderland.
The winger has not featured since December 11 because of a hamstring injury but Ian Evatt confirmed yesterday that he has now returned from training and will be in contention for a place on the bench.
“He is back training so that’s another plus and another headache, which is nice, I’ve not had too many of them, for the right reasons anyway,” Evatt joked. “Everyone is still recovering, everyone is still gaining match fitness and sharpness so we should be better for it this weekend.”
Kieran Lee should also be available after being substituted at half time in the 1-0 win at Shrewsbury last weekend.
The experienced midfielder has historical problems with a hip injury but has had the problem checked out by medical staff this week and should be ready to play.
“He’s fine. He’s all good,” Evatt said. “I think he’s had a bit of a hip issue a couple of years ago when he was at Sheffield Wednesday and I think he jarred his hip a little bit into the ground and I think it scared him a little bit and he was a bit worried, but there’s nothing which has showed up on anything and he’s trained fine this week and he is available.”
Some of the injury problems that Wanderers suffered before Christmas are still weighing heavy on players’ minds – including midfielder MJ Wiliams, who at one stage looked like he could be out for several months after dislocating his shoulder against Wycombe in November.
Psychologically, Evatt feels his players are now starting to show some improvement.
“It (psychology) is huge, and football is for me, 80 per cent psychological, 20 per cent all the rest,” he said. “MJ, probably since he came back, has been a bit placid for him, because he’s obviously going to be worried about his shoulder and physical contact again.
“It takes time to build confidence. Kieran the same and once you get a knock on a historical injury, you are bound to worry, but it is good news for both players that they are coming through fine and they have recovered great and we are fully fit with a clean bill of health, ready for Saturday.”
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