Injured pair should be back in action soon
CHRIS Wilder is hoping Paddy McNair and Marc Bola will be back with the group shortly after both picked up injuries in pre-season.
They are expected to be minor setbacks that don’t keep the duo out for too long.
Bola limped out of the York City friendly earlier in the month with a groin strain and it meant he missed the trip to Portugal last week.
McNair, meanwhile, was a shock absentee from Tuesday night’s friendly win at Morecambe, with Wilder revealing the centre-back twisted his ankle in training.
Wilder clarified on McNair afterwards: “He just turned his ankle over in training and it just shows how quickly you can lose a player.
“You’ve lost a player just like that from an innocuous coming together in training. These things happen from time to time and you can’t do much about it.
“It’s not an overuse and underuse injury, it’s a compact one, turning his ankle in training, going for a tackle with one of the boys and falling awkwardly.
“These things can happen. We’re hopeful it won’t be too long, obviously he misses the first game of the season anyway [through suspension], so we’ll see how he goes with that one and hopefully get him back as soon as possible because he is a big player for us.”
Meanwhile, he is hoping Bola will be back in action before the season starts.
The first-team play Marseille at the Riverside tomorrow evening, while the under-23s play Darlington on Saturday.
Wilder said of the left-back:
“He’s OK. He had a tight groin so no good taking him just to give him treatment so he’ll be part of the group on Friday.
“There are a couple of games. There’s a game on Friday and one on Saturday at Darlington so the boys that don’t get minutes on Friday will be involved on Saturday at Darlington.”