The club skipper should be joining Mark Phillips in the centre of defence
Southend United centre-back Chris Barker remains confident of being able to lead the team out against Aldershot in their Boxing Day clash at the EEB Stadium, the Rec to you and me!
Captain Chris missed last Friday’s 1-0 defeat to Bradford City with a calf problem he sustained against Oldham Athletic in the cup replay the previous Tuesday.
However, Blues boss Paul Sturrock is banking on his inspirational leader on the pitch back where he belongs, leading his troops in to battle.
Sturrock told www.echo-news.co.uk: “Chris is confident of being fit and it would give us a big boost if he was fit to play. He’s our captain and an important member of the team but we won’t be taking any chances on him. Earlier on in his career Chris had quite a long lay off with a calf problem and was out for a few months so we certainly don’t want that to happen again. We have to be sensible with him and he will only play if he’s ready.”
If that happens to be Monday then that will release Luke Prosser to play left-back in Peter Gilbert's enforced absense.
There certainly would have been a problem if both or one of Barker and Phillips had been injured as Bilel Mohsni sits out the final match of his two-game ban, and would be interesting what would happen if a substitution has to take place with either player, Mark has been carrying a hamstring problem all week.
Source: FOOTYMAD
