Mansfield Town defensive star Elliott Hewitt could be back in full training this week after a nine month nightmare with a serious knee injury.
The 29-year-old, who can play centre back or full back, sustained an ACL injury during his stellar season last year.
However, Hewitt might be a great acquisition for the last push, with Stags aiming for a top three finish and sitting second following Saturday’s excellent 4-0 victory at Forest Green Rovers.
“We are working on some test results for Elliott Hewitt this week and if all goes well he might be back in full contact training by Wednesday,” manager Nigel Clough stated prior to Saturday’s trip to Walsall.
His return would be very appreciated, as we have been missing him for about nine months.
We simply need to take extra care to reintegrate him gradually.
However, it will be wonderful to have him around once more.
He has participated in non-contact training with us as a floater, but getting him back to full training and seeing him on matchdays if he is in the 18 will be very beneficial.
However, Elliott might have to wait for an injury or other circumstance before returning to the game.
George Williams, who hasn’t played much this season but has started the previous two games when we’ve had clean sheets, could have something to say about that.
We have that kind of strength in the group this season, which is exactly what you need.
George can enter the game and perform as well as he has in the past two games.
“It was the challenge after all the injuries we’ve had in the last couple of years to get a stronger squad in place at the start of the season that could cope if we did lose six or seven players or whatever, and I think generally it’s done that very well,” said Clough, who thought the bench on Saturday was one of the strongest he had had since joining the club.
We still have five players out with long-term issues, so it’s critical that everyone else rises up, and I believe we can accomplish that.
Thus, it does not adversely affect us as a team when we make adjustments, as we did on Saturday, to leave players like Lucas Akins and Stephen Quinn out.
The skill levels of the eighteen participants are remarkably similar.
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