Stephen Crainey delighted to have Joe Garner back in Fleetwood frame

Joe Garner is expected to be in contention for tomorrow’s League One visit to Portsmouth, having been out for three months with a shoulder injury.

The former Preston North End forward has scored twice in 10 appearances for Town this season and his experience could go along way to helping Town stay up.

Team boss Crainey said: “The only one that could be in contention is Joe Garner.

“He’s been training with the group all week. It will be nice to get him back involved.

“Hopefully in the next couple of weeks we could get some back.

“Joe has been chomping at the bit. He’s been working really hard in the gym to get his shoulder nice and strong.

“He’s looked the part in training, so it will be nice to get him back as an option to get on the pitch.

“The more people back and the more options the better for me.

“Over the last couple of weeks, with games being cancelled, it’s been nice getting some detail into the lads and hopefully we’re going to be really fresh going into the game with Portsmouth.”

A combination of snowfall and a damaged Highbury roof saw Town’s last two games postponed, meaning they have not played since the 2-0 defeat at Cheltenham Town a fortnight ago.

Crainey said: “Your plans get disrupted, and you need to adjust and adapt to these sorts of things. That’s what we’ve done.

“I think that’s the most snow we’ve had in a while on the coast. We didn’t expect that and then the wind affected the stadium, so for safety reasons that (Tuesday’s match against Sheffield Wednesday) had to be cancelled.

“We’ve had time on the training pitch preparing, so hopefully we’ll be ready to go out and give a good account for ourselves.

“When you get a defeat in football, you want to get on to the next game as soon as possible and unfortunately for us we’ve had to wait two weeks. But we’ve had the chance to get loads of detail into the group in training.

“We’ve prepared as best we can and are looking to put on a good show at Portsmouth. We know it’s going to be a very tough game against a top side, who have a big budget as well.

“We’re looking to be competitive and hopefully get three points from the game.”

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