Fleetwood Town boss Simon Grayson welcomes options for Wycombe visit

Callum Morton made a goalscoring return to the starting line-up in last weekend’s defeat at Ipswich Town.

And Joe Garner and Anthony Pilkington played more than an hour of a behind-closed-doors game against Accrington Stanley on Tuesday.

As Town’s head coach makes the most of a free week ahead of second-placed Wycombe Wanderers’ visit to Highbury tomorrow, he was encouraged by a shortening queue for the treatment room.

Grayson said: “It gave us a chance to have a breather but also get some work into the players.

“Joe Garner and Anthony Pilkington both started against Accrington. We got a good 60-70 minutes out of them and those two needed it because they had not started in a long time.

“We gave them an opportunity to get them close to the team for the weekend. One or two players are pushing to get back, if not this weekend then for the Wigan game on Tuesday night.

“All of a sudden things are looking more positive than a few weeks ago, when we had six or seven players out who are integral to the squad.”

Loan striker Morton marked his return to the starting XI with a sixth goal in Fleetwood colours at Portman Road and Grayson added: “Callum had a muscular injury and we didn’t want to rush him back too quickly.

“He’d come off the bench in the two previous games and we felt he was ready to go.

“It was a great ball in from Paddy Lane for Callum to finish off and it’s good to have him back.

“We are getting good options with the two Garners (Ged as well as Joe) available and Ryan Edmondson, so we have options to play different formations.”

The latest casualty was midfielder Callum Camps, who missed the Ipswich game after picking up a knock in the home defeat by Burton Albion four days earlier.

Grayson provided an update, adding: “Callum has been out on the grass in the week and we’re assessing where we are with him and one or two others.

“Tom Clarke has missed a few as well, so on top of the long-term injuries, we’ve had key players missing.”

The situation meant Conor McLaughlin made the first start of his second spell with the club earlier than expected last weekend.

Grayson explained: “Conor was a needs-must because we were down to the bare bones in defence.

“He hadn’t started a game for six months and hadn’t even started a reserve game for us.

“He got a bit tired at the back end but we’ve managed him, as we do the older players, and he’ll get fitter and stronger. It’s nice to have that experience back.”

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