Michael Ihiekwe will be back in contention for Blackpool this weekend.

Blackpool defender Michael Ihiekwe is expected to be fit for this weekend’s game away to Lincoln City.

The experienced figure has won several promotions from League One throughout his career, with both Rotherham United and Sheffield Wednesday, but has struggled to find consistency in Tangerine - with a long-term injury being a mitigating factor behind that.

For the majority of his time at Bloomfield Road since his summer switch, the 33-year-old has struggled with a toe problem.

After missing several matches completely either side of the Christmas period, Ihiekwe has received steroid injections to help ease the problem.

While this has provided some short-term relief, the Seasiders have still been forced to manage his game time, with two matches a week proving too much for the centre back.

Ihiekwe’s ongoing battle with the injury has forced him to miss Blackpool’s recent outings against Mansfield Town and Bolton Wanderers, but he is set to return against Lincoln on Saturday afternoon.

Blackpool boss shares injury update on struggling defender

Seasiders head coach Ian Evatt states only surgery in the summer will truly ease the problem for the defender, and has been left impressed by his commitment to keep putting himself forward for contention.

“Michael had another injection, and a more detailed one, and we’re hoping that’ll settle the toe further,” he said.

“He'll be available on Saturday. It’s guaranteed he’ll need to have surgery in the summer; it’s just whether we can manage the pain until then. It’s a needs must, we are where we are.

“We’re all on the same page with that. He’s put himself forward consistently while not being right, and deserves credit for that.

“We’ve got to resolve that issue. We’ve taken the decision with Albie (Morgan) right now (to have surgery) because we see the benefit of that for the future, but with Michael - we need him around.

“He’s put himself forward while being 60/70 percent fit, so we should congratulate him for that.

“Hopefully we can get him through to the end of the season, which is going to be tough - there’ll be some bumps for him because the pain gets worse with the more he does.

“When it’s fixed, it should resolve the issue and he should be fine.

“Everyone was super excited when we signed him because of the background he had, but I have to provide the context of how much he’s suffering, and how much we’ve suffered because of his injury and others.

“The fans will obviously expect more from him and everyone, but sometimes you have to provide the context of what’s going on behind-the-scenes and what he’s dealing with just to put on a shirt for us on a Saturday.”

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