Fitness Update On Boyle, Cadden, & Newell

David Gray provided an update on his side’s fitness ahead of this weekend’s game against Dundee United.

The international break provided our Head Coach with extra time on the grass with his players, and a longer period for players to recover from their respective injuries.

Both Joe Newell and Martin Boyle had surgery a few weeks ago, and Gray gave a positive update on them both.

“They’ve been back training fully and have been getting stronger. I think the break came at a good time for them as the timing of the international breaks limited the amount of fixtures they’ve missed.

“They been back training the last two weeks and have been with the group. They come into contention this weekend.”

Six First Team players were away on international duty during the October break, and with some only returning to HTC yesterday (Thursday 17 October), it has given our Head Coach food for thought.

“You’re watching all the international games closely to see how many minutes our lads have played and how much recovery they’ve had. We have all the information about their travel times and having to think about the different time zones. We had Millsy in Australia, Nathan Moriah-Welsh in South America for example, and we’ve had some boys that have travelled to the other side of the world and not played, so then you’re assessing what they’ve done in training.

“It’s a balance trying to work everything out. The good thing is everyone has come back fit and safely, and it’s about making sure they’re in a good enough place for tomorrow.”

That means that there’s only two players missing this weekend’s game, Kieron Bowie and Nicky Cadden.

“The only other short-term injury we’ve got is Nicky. On his return to training, he picked up a slight niggle again, which has put him back a week or so. We’re not going to take a risk on him at this stage.”