Busy day possible for JFH in window

“I WILL have to look into the chairman’s eyes and say please,” smiled Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink after Burton Albion’s 1-1 draw with Cheltenham Town on Friday night.

It was a rueful response to the question about what might happen between then and today, transfer deadline day.

The Burton manager has a match to think about, a meeting at home to MK Dons tonight in the Papa John’s Trophy group stages (7pm).

Much as he wants to win every game, occupying his mind more pressingly will be how he might supplement his injury-hit squad before the window closes a couple of hours after the game.

Burton have had a catalogue of ill-luck so far that, surely, by the law of averages, has to start to turn soon.

Had Hasselbaink been dealing with one, two, even three injuries at this point, he might be looking at the end of the window in a slightly more relaxed way.

From somewhere, however, he will hope to conjure a striker and an attacking midfielder, while he is also now short of defensive midfielders.

The bad luck has stretched not just to the number of players injured but the fact that most are in two specific areas of the field: up front and defensive midfield.

In successive pre-season games against Leicester City and Newcastle United, they lost summer signing Louis Moult with damaged ankle ligaments, then fellow striker Kane Hemmings with a hamstring injury.

The opening day League One win away to Shrewsbury Town saw forward Jacob Maddox limp off with a foot injury.

Midfielder Deji Oshilaja came off after 51 minutes of the Carabao Cup tie against Oxford United and after two injury-free games, Burton lost Tom O’Connor, away to Cambridge United, and Michael Mancienne, against Cheltenham, with hamstring injuries.

In addition, Terry Taylor has been isolating after a positive Covid test, Ciaran Gilligan has yet to feature with a pre-season hip injury and Bryn Morris has just reappeared after shaking off a “dead leg”.

Can Hasselbaink – again – pull a rabbit from the hat today?