Team News

Notts manager Billy Dearden may well have just 13 senior players to choose from for tonight's tie against high-flying Sheffield Wednesday.

Has a bad toe...

Ian Richardson has been unable to train since Saturday's match at Blackpool, after he picked up a knee injury in that game.

And poor old Steve Jenkins has an injured toe this time (Is there any part of the body that this man hasn't injured in his time here?).

And with Michael Brough, Tony Hackworth and Paul Bolland already on the injury list, it leaves Dearden with limited options.

Shane McFaul, who may have started tonight after his 2 goal display in Monday's youth team tie, is also injured and unavailable for tonight's game.

"We can just about name a starting XI," Dearden told the Evening Post. "Then we have Paul Riley and Stuart Garden to select from beyond that.

"After that we are looking at bringing kids into the squad.

"There is a chance that Jenkins or Richardson may be fit enough to play.

"But looking at the way they were yesterday afternoon, I am not holding out too much hope."

Dearden also used this an oppurtunity (again) to moan at the size of his squad.

"Once you have one or two injuries, you start to have problems," he said.

"We are looking very limited in our options.

"The squad soon starts to look a little thin once you are missing a few players.

"People have to realise that, because it is a problem.

"Hopefully there will be some good news this afternoon. We had better keep our fingers crossed that there is."

I'm a big fan of Dearden but I think he's in the wrong here. It's not going to do Willis Francis, Shaun Harrad etc much good to be excluded from the first team squad in this way and be dismissed as 'kids' when they're damn good players.

Notts (from): Mildenhall, Fenton, Nicholson, Barras, Livesey, Baldry, Baraclough, Caskey, Riley, Stallard, Heffernan, Platt, Garden, Richardson, Jenkins, Francis, Harrad, Bostock.