ANDY KING was sweating on the fitness of three key players this morning as his troops trained ahead of Cheltenham Town's visit to the County Ground tomorrow.
New boy Jon Beswetherick, Matty Hewlett and Danny Invincible were all in the treatment room yesterday and physio Dick Mackey was due to assess the condition of his 'patients' again today.
Beswetherick has a slight swelling on the side of his right knee and sore shins after colliding with QPR keeper Nick Culkin.
Hewlett received a knock on the top of his foot while Invincible is recovering from a foot infection.
But with another 24 to 36 hours before kick-off, each member of the injured trio will be given every chance to make it.
King said: "It's too early to say whether or not they will be available. Twenty-four hours can make a lot of difference in terms of recovery time.
"If the match was tonight then obviously that would make things extremely difficult. The switch to playing midweek home games on a Wednesday was to allow me to look at other teams.
"But in this case it might have worked to our advantage on the injury front as well."
Mackey is the man tasked with trying to patch the players up, and he is hopeful but not definite that all three will be fit for duty.
He said: "Danny Invincible's infection means he will be uncomfortable for a while but I'm fairly pleased with situation on that front.
"Matty Hewlett took a knock on the top of his foot which is causing him some pain. Again, nothing too serious but something you don't want to aggravate.
"Jon Beswetherick is very sore and we did some work with him in the pool yesterday. It's an odd situation in that the pain in a shin injury seems worse later on, rather than at the time of 'impact' if you like.
"Again, we will just have to wait and see. If the next match was on Saturday then I would see no problem with any of them. We will monitor them and assess the situation on Wednesday."
Invincible saw his starting place taken by Eric Sabin on Saturday and the Australian knows he has a fight on to win his place back.
The 23-year-old said: "I had a cut on the top of my foot which became infected and it has taken some time to respond to antibiotics. But I'm hoping to train today."
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