Fleetwood boss Rosler: Challenge in balance of McAleny and Grant recovery

They are both returning from injury and Fleetwood Town head coach Uwe Rosler says the challenge is to get striker Conor McAleny and Bobby Grant involved as they regain match fitness.

Both made their first start since October in last week's Checkatrade Trophy win at Bury, who have since sacked former Town assistant boss Chris Lucketti.

But it has been happier news for Rosler as both McAleny and Grant continue to recover.

Rosler pondered whether to take midfielder Grant, 27, to Southend on Saturday, when he was an unused substitute.

But he said Grant is too important to leave at home training, and now he and McAleny are in contention for tonight's FA Cup third round replay clash against Leicester.

And Rosler explained how Town are managing their comebacks.

He said: "Normally the plan with Bobby after the game against Bury was to keep him training for an extra day. I was not necessarily thinking to take him down to Southend.

"I was thinking to train him that weekend hard to get him closer to match fitness.

"I told Bobby that, but all credit to Bobby he over-succeeded with his performance and my expectation for him in the first game after such a long time out. I could simply not resist putting him on the bench because he played so well against Bury.

"I wanted him on the pitch, especially thinking what sort of game that would be, then the game turned out exactly that way.

"That he did not come on was tactical but now we need to be sure that Bobby is involved and gets minutes, but also that we are bringing him up to 100 per cent match fitness because at the moment he is not and he knows that.

"But we did that before because he is too important. We can't just leave him at home training. We need him but we also need to be sure that he is getting fit.

"(At Southend Conor) had a few more minutes. He is the same as Bobby. He is probably ahead of Bobby in terms of fitness. This time he took a little bit longer. He had more time and more fitness sessions.

"He is now getting back to his best by playing him. I'm not just playing him to get him fit - I am playing him because I think he can add things to us which we do not have when he is not on the pitch.

"That is how we get him fit now - give him more or more minutes or play him from the start or from the bench, building his confidence in his physique.

"We will see very soon the Conor McAleny that we saw in pre-season and at the beginning of the season."

Town's only other injured party, centre-half Ash Eastham, who limped off in the original tie with the Foxes is back training.

Rosler said: "Ash Eastham is on grass and he will be available in the week."