Hurst plays waiting game
GRIMSBY Town manager Paul Hurst has revealed he has a “couple” of injury doubts ahead of today’s National League play-off semi-final clash at Wrexham.
The Mariners chief would not reveal the identity of either player but has declared his intention to leave a decision on their fitness as late as possible.
John McAtee, Ryan Taylor and Gavan Holohan all limped off during Monday’s thrilling 2-1 play-off eliminator victory at Notts County and would appear the likeliest candidates to miss out at the Racecourse Ground.
But Hurst was also keen to stress his group of players secured victory at Meadow Lane without the influential trio on the pitch, which he reasons bodes well if that has to be the case in North Wales too.
The Mariners chief said: “I don’t want to say too much, but we have got a couple of doubts and, in terms of assessing them, we might even leave it until Saturday morning
“What I would say, though, is it was very pleasing and satisfying that in a big game for us Ryan and John, who are two big players for us, were not on the pitch and the other players were able to go and finish the job off.
“That was good for the group as a whole, because who knows what team it will be at
Wrexham or what situation we might find ourselves in.”
Despite enduring an extra-time period that saw Mani Dieseruvwe grab an 119th-minute winner against Notts County, Hurst is also confident his side will be reenergised for their next challenge
“Monday’s match did take something out of the players, but we’ve done the best we can in terms of recovery so, hopefully, they will be ready to go because you get through these things if you want to get through them,” he declared.