Cole to miss Fleetwood's Parade

Fleetwood's Devante Cole is unlikely to face his former club tomorrow.
Devante ColeDevante Cole
Devante Cole

The 20-year-old signed for Town from Bradford last week, with Jamie Proctor heading in the other direction on loan, but neither is expected to play a part at Valley Parade.

Proctor is ruled out under the terms of his loan deal, while Cole has a minor hamstring problem.

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Town manager Steven Pressley explained: “Devante’s settled well. He has a slight problem with his hamstring, which means he might be a doubt for the weekend.

“We’ll assess that over the next couple of days.”

Town are likely to call on loan duo David Henen and Alex Kiwomya, even if Pressley is concerned the former might not be able to last the 90 minutes.

“ I’m pleased with how the group has settled in,” said Pressley after his January shopping spree last week.

“David has come back (from Everton) and he’s really been like a new signing for us. We’re just having to try to get him up to speed.

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“I played him just short of 60 minutes in the game last Saturday. We’ll slowly but surely build him up.”

Pressley is conscious of pushing the Everton forward too much, not wanting to cause any setback for the young Belgian.

“I’m not sure he’s yet got the 90 minutes in his legs. He didn’t do a lot of running in his time away from here. He was injured during that period,” he said.

“We have to be careful about bringing him back too quickly. We’ll assess him in the coming days.”

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Pressley is hoping that good news this week for his other loan star, Chelsea teen Kiwomya, will be reflected on the pitch.

And he’s pleased to have choices up front, having dealt with a threadbare squad for months.

“Alex has had some good news – his partner’s had a baby boy, so he’ll score at the weekend. That always happens.

“But it’s pleasing to have options up there because it’s something we’ve not had for some time.”

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“We have Ash Hunter, Alex and David. And there’s Bobby (Grant) and Jamille (Matt) coming back from loan.”

Town head to Valley Parade in the bottom four of League One.

But with Rochdale and Scunthorpe now being sucked into the battle at the bottom, Pressley is convinced his side can haul themselves clear.

But he knows that involves turning draws into wins, even though Fleetwood are unbeaten in 2016.

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He said: “We’re in a position where we can climb the table with our games in hand, but they are only any good when you win. It’s about collecting the points.

“I spoke prior to Walsall about the importance of turning these draws into victories and that remains the same.

“We have to pick up the all- important points to get ourselves clear of that bottom four.

“We’re a very capable side, a side I think has improved greatly, but we have to win games of football, starting with Bradford.”

Town have no fresh injury concerns.