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Nathan Baxter will be fit to face Stockport County this weekend if Ian Evatt decides to make a change in goal.
Luke Southwood has kept guard for the last six games in league and cup whilst Baxter recovered from a muscular injury sustained against Northampton Town.
But speaking at his pre-match press conference, Evatt confirmed the former Chelsea man would be back in contention, with both Gethin Jones and Jordi Osei-Tutu also available to play some part from the bench, if needed.
“We have Gethin and Jordi back with us, Nathan as well, which is a huge boost – we have a deeper squad for this game,” he said.
“Gethin and Jordi are more likely to impact from the bench at this point but Nathan is fit to start, so we have a decision to make there.
“Training has been good. There has been a little bit of illness flying around camp, which isn’t ideal, and it seems to have affected people at different times this week.
“But we have more options, Gethin came through 45 minutes with the B Team absolutely fine, and is getting better with every training session. Jordi is not ready to start but also getting better.
“Things are getting better and easier and post-break we will have George Thomason back, Carlos Mendes Gomes back and Eoin Toal and Chris Forino at late-stage rehab.
“We have a good squad of players but we need to finish this block of games strongly. It has been a good block so far and if we can do that we will be in a pretty strong position going into December, and that was our aim. It has been a very good recovery considering the start to the season and how damaging that was to us all, really.
“We have responded in the right way and fingers crossed we can get a positive result on Saturday and finish strongly.”
Evatt is confident that last weekend’s FA Cup defeat won’t impact on league form, and that his players can now ‘self-govern’ better than they have previously done.
“We have trained intensely, and the players have been reminded of what is expected,” he said.
“Not everyone agrees with what Roy Keane says but there was a quote from him post-Erik Ten Hag losing his job and he said: ‘Good teams are held accountable by the managers and coaches but great teams are held accountable by their players.’ “I think that is the kind of mindset we want the players in, they need to understand what is expected playing for this football club and fanbase. They also need to hold each other accountable if they do not meet the required standards.
“They are getting better at it. And that doesn’t mean they are being aggressive, effing or jeffing or anything like that, but if someone is not doing what has been agreed, they need to make sure they are told about it.”
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