Blackpool boss Neil Critchley hopeful on keeper after collision against Nottingham Forest- while others make significant progress in return from injury

The 26-year-old was forced off with an arm injury in the midweek 3-2 defeat to Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup- after being involved in a collision in the build-up to the visitor’s second goal at Bloomfield Road. He was replaced by Richard O’Donnell, who produced a number of important saves to take the tie to extra time, before Chris Wood scored the winner for the Premier League outfit.

Ahead of the trip to the Memorial Stadium on Saturday afternoon, Seasiders boss Neil Critchley is hopeful Grimshaw will be able to feature.

"He’s going to be touch-and-go for Bristol Rovers, but he’s improved,” he said.

"If you’ve ever suffered a dead leg, it’s like a dead arm. It’s just a contact injury so he lost a little bit of power and feeling. We’ll give him as long as we can.

"He was really brave going into the challenge, and he obviously came off worse. You could see the bruising and the swelling had come up on Thursday but that has settled down significantly, so we’re hopeful for this weekend, and then we’re more than hopeful for next Saturday.”

Critchley also had positive news concerning two of his attacking players. Kylian Kouassi has been out of action since November due to a hamstring problem, while Jake Beesley suffered a blow in the Seasiders’ final outing of 2023 away to Port Vale.

"Kylian is starting to join in full in training which is positive news- he went for a scan on Tuesday which gave him the all-clear,” the Blackpool boss added.

“Jake Beesley is out of his boot and walking around. He’s in good spirits and hopefully we can start stepping him up next week.”