Mansfield Town manager Paul Cox has revealed that Martin Riley and Liam Hearn will undergo scans to assess the injuries they picked up in last night’s 2-1 defeat to Sheffield United.
Riley limped off after 72 minutes against Sheffield United with a groin problem while Liam Hearn picked up a knee injury in the first-half after falling awkwardly and the full details of those injuries should be revealed within the next 24 hours. However Cox reassured fans that Hearn’s injury isn’t as bad as first feared.“We’ve watched the incident again and I’m hoping that there’s not too much to worry about there, so he might be alright for Saturday. It’s not the old injury as we’ve seen on there, I think he just falls awkwardly,” said the Stags' boss.
Defender Martin Riley will also have a scan today which will reveal the extent of his groin injury, which Cox admitted may need time to heal: “I don’t think it’s going to be too serious but it’s like any muscle injury, it might just need a bit of time to recover.”
Cox revealed that young defender Liam Marsden and Stags’ captain/assistant manager Adam Murray could both be in contention for a place in the squad which will face Oxford United, however there are still question marks over the fitness of striker Ollie Palmer: “We were going to put him through a fitness test for last night’s game, but he’s not ready yet, whether he will be ready for Saturday is a bit of a 'toss of a coin'.”
The Mansfield boss also had praise for the Stags’ away following last night, who he described as “immense”, he said: “I don’t want everything to be doom and gloom [following the defeat]; we got a standing ovation from our own supporters away from home last night.”
Cox continued: “What pleases me most is the supporters who came to the game have seen the work ethic [from the players] and the type of football we tried to play against a very good side who are tipped to get promoted from the league above.”
