Shrewsbury Town hoping to have players back for Mansfield visit
Boss Gareth Ainsworth is hopeful some of Shrewsbury Town's injured players could return for their match against Mansfield this weekend.
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Salop were down to the bare bones on Tuesday night when they lost 1-0 to Stockport at Edgeley Park. The result was their second successive away defeat, and it means the head coach's wait for a victory on the road goes on.
Aaron Pierre, Leo Castledine and Luca Hoole were all missing from the matchday 18 in Greater Manchester as Salop were beaten thanks to a stunning free-kick from midfielder Ollie Norwood.
Pierre has not featured for Shrewsbury since he came off at half-time in the cross-border derby against Wrexham two weeks ago - he has a hamstring injury.
Chelsea loanee Castledine has a glute problem, while Hoole, also has hamstring injury, which he felt after the clash against Charlton at The Valley.
On Tuesday, the Shrewsbury boss said his players were 'not risked' rather than injured with the intention they would be available to play against Mansfield this weekend.
And now Ainsworth has spoken about the fitness of his squad ahead of the match against Nigel Clough's team.
He said: "Like I said, they were pulled out for the weekend - hopefully. There was a risk, especially the aforementioned (Leo)Castledine and (Luca) Hoole.
"Pierre looks like he is making great progress and should be back on track. This was always the game we earmarked him back for.
"I'm hoping that we can have a full squad. I'm going to say there will probably be one or two aches and pains and knocks because it was a tough game on Tuesday night. A couple of the boys came off having big tackles or running some good distance for me.
"It's the third game in a week now on Saturday, which we always look at very carefully.
"We will assess them all. The performance and medical teams will be right on point today for me, and they will make sure that there's no risk and there are no future injuries.
"We are operating now with a squad that's probably a tiny bit light. A couple more would be great, and then I've got my perfect numbers.
"But we've got to be careful with the ones who potentially could play on Saturday."
