Gary Madine registered in Blackpool's 25-man squad as striker named on bench against Huddersfield Town

The striker had initially been left out of Blackpool' s 25-man squad that they had to recently submit to the EFL following the closure of the transfer window.

But clubs are now able to register injured players at any time, as long as it's 24 hours before a fixture.

Madine has endured a nightmare 2021, having gone under the knife during the summer after a niggling groin injury plagued the second half of his 2020/21 season.

But the striker has recently returned to training and is now fit enough to be named in Blackpool's 18-man squad.

Explaining Madine's situation last week, Neil Critchley said: “With the ruling it’s different this season, so you can add any of your players basically 24 hours before a game.

“With Gary’s situation and the way it is, there’s no reason to do that until he’s ready to play.

“He’s trained today (Thursday) and he looked good. He looked fresh and full of energy, so both of us want him back in the squad as quickly as possible.

“He’s not played a lot of football since January, so he needs to do a bit of training for himself to show that he’s capable of training every day and capable of going through the rigours and the intensity of getting knocked about, falling over, getting back up, taking a hit etc.

“Once he does that, which I’m hoping will be sooner rather than later, he’ll be added to the squad and back in our matchday squad.”

CJ Hamilton is another player that could possibly be re-registered at a later date due to being sidelined with a foot problem.

The winger went under the knife for the second time this year yesterday.

Elsewhere tonight, Critchley opted to make two changes from Saturday's magnificent 1-0 win against promotion favourites Fulham.

Kenny Dougall came into the side in place of Kevin Stewart, who dropped down to the bench after only making his first start of the campaign on Saturday.

Shayne Lavery returned to the fold to partner Jerry Yates in attack, while Tyreece John-Jules moved over to the left wing. That saw Keshi Anderson drop down to the bench.

Matty Virtue (ACL), Grant Ward (achilles), Demetri Mitchell (knee), Owen Dale (foot) and CJ Hamilton (foot) all remain sidelined.

Teddy Howe, Oliver Sarkic, Bez Lubala and Joe Nuttall continue to be left out having not been registered in Blackpool’s squad.

Huddersfield, meanwhile, made three changes to the side that lost somewhat unfortunately to Stoke City on Saturday.

Former Seasider Ollie Turton was named among the substitutes having made the surprise move to West Yorkshire just four days after Blackpool’s Wembley triumph in May.

​Thanks for reading. If you value what we do and are able to support us, a digital subscription is just £1 for your first month. Try us today by clicking here