Southend V Northampton at Roots Hall : Match Preview

15 February 2013 12:01
Southend V Northampton - view commentary, squad, and statistics of the game live.


Problems pile up for Shrimpers

Injury-hit Southend do not expect any of their sidelined players to return in time for the visit of Northampton and manager Paul Sturrock's list of absentees has got even longer.

Defenders Chris Barker (calf) and Mark Phillips (toe) will continue to miss out, along with the suspended Ryan Cresswell, who serves the second game of his three-match ban.

Leading scorer Gavin Tomlin is not expected to return from his thigh problem until next month, while Michael Timlin (broken leg) is ruled out for the rest of the season.

Midfielder Marc Laird picked up a hamstring injury during the first half of Tuesday night's 2-1 defeat to Cheltenham and misses out, as does Caolan Lavery (hamstring).

Meanwhile, Kevan Hurst was absent from training on Thursday due to a virus.

Northampton manager Aidy Boothroyd will have an unchanged squad to choose from.

After seeing his side beat Rochdale 3-1 at home last weekend, Boothroyd must decide whether to stick with a winning team or, as he did against Dale, make one or two changes.

With long-term absentee Alex Nicholls, who is recovering from a broken leg, the only player unavailable, Boothroyd has plenty of options open to him.

On-loan midfielder Manny Oyeleke and striker Jake Robinson will be hoping for recalls after they dropped out of the side last Saturday.

Roy O'Donovan and Clive Platt replaced them in the starting XI and they will have their fingers crossed they did enough to keep their shirts.

Recent signing Lee Collins and fellow defender John Johnson, fit again after a knee injury, and midfielders Ishmel Demontagnac and Lewis Hornby were all on the bench against Rochdale and are other options for Boothroyd.

Source: PA