Neil Critchley provides injury update on James Husband, CJ Hamilton and Gary Madine ahead of Blackpool's game against Crewe

The defender was down to start for Blackpool during Saturday’s game against Charlton Athletic, only to be forced out late on after feeling his calf in the warm-up.

Jordan Thorniley came into the side in his place, performing superbly, while Nathan Shaw took the vacant spot on the bench.

Critchley has revealed Husband’s issue isn’t serious and admits the 27-year-old could come back into contention on Tuesday night if he comes through training unscathed.

“It’s not serious, he just felt something in the warm-up and we didn’t want to take that chance,” Critchley said, speaking this morning.

“With Marvin (Ekpiteta) being out at the moment, Daniel Gretarsson being out - although he is getting closer and won’t be too far away - we didn’t want to take that risk.

“We’ll have to see today if he comes through the training session, if he does that will put him into contention for tomorrow night.

“If not, then I’m sure he’ll definitely be available for Saturday’s game (against AFC Wimbledon).”

Ekpiteta, Gretarsson and Keshi Anderson remain longer-term absentees for Blackpool, although CJ Hamilton (hamstring) and Gary Madine (groin) aren’t far away from returning.

Madine travelled with the Pool squad to The Valley on Saturday, but was left out of Critchley’s 18-man squad.

“He’s back on the grass, running and kicking the ball,” Critchley said.

“He wanted to be around the squad so we could do some extra work with him and the physio on Friday and Saturday.

“He’s getting closer and he’s pushing, but we have to now pick when we think is the right time for him when we believe he’s had enough training.

“We obviously take his opinion into account, he’s an experienced player who knows his body better than anybody.

“So when the physios and we’re happy and he’s happy, then we’ll pick the time for him to come back into the squad.”

Critchley added: “As for CJ, he’s fine. He stepped up his training in the last week, so he’s in a similar situation to Gary.

“We’ve got so many games coming up and we want them back, but when they come back - particularly CJ because he’s been out since Christmas - we’ve got to make sure we strike the right balance between exposing him to games, giving him game time and playing.

“But it might be foolish to think he’s going to come in and play every minute of every game straight away.

“Gary is slightly different because he’s had less time out (five games), but he’s played a lot of football previous to picking up this slight injury, so both players will need to be managed.”

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