Brian Reid says Albion Rovers have been plagued by bad luck with injuries all season and hopes their postponed game against Stranraer allows some to return for this weekend.
A frozen pitch put paid to the League Two clash at Cliftonhill, as Rovers bid to claw their way out of relegation trouble.
Not for the first time this season, Reid says the Coatbridge club are due a break after having multiple players missing from their squads on an almost-weekly basis.
The Rovers gaffer admits he is going to need all of his squad, but the younger players need to step it up.
He said: “It’s no secret that we had a lot of injuries – we had eight guys missing in the last game [3-2 defeat at Stirling Albion], so it might give them an other week or so to get more up to speed, and it might not do us any harm.
“We’ve been plagued all season, you need to be blind not to see what has been happening with us – we’ve had five, six, seven, eight players missing every week, so it certainly doesn’t help.
“It’s maybe one of the reasons why we’ve been near the bottom end of the table, rather than up near the top.”
Rovers brought in Andreas Ekuase from Afroscots United and Finley Smith from Alloa for their reserves over the past week. While Reid says he isn’t too familiar with them as they aren’t first team players, there is always a chance for the reserve players to catch his attention.
He said: “I’m always looking at the young ones to see if there’s anyone coming through, but they’ve got to deserve it, they’ve got to be good enough to actually step up.
“We’ve been fortunate over the years that we’ve had guys like Adam Fernie, Kyle Doherty, guys who have come up through the reserves, and one or two others.
“But they’ve got to earn the right to prove that they’re good enough.
“We’re going to need the whole squad. We’ve had to tap in to some young boys who are maybe not quite ready.
“But they are running out of time, we’ve only got a couple of months left in the season, nine games, so they need to try and push themselves a wee bit.”
Next up for Rovers is a trip to league leaders Dumbarton, and Reid said: “We’ve played well against Dumbarton this season and deserved more than the one point we’ve got in three games.
“Any team is capable of beating any team in this division, but you need to defend properly and take your chances.
“We certainly don’t fear anybody, but we’ve got to go and play well.
“Dumbarton are obviously up there on merit, so it will be tough, but we’re more than capable of getting a result.”
Follow Lanarkshire Live Sport on Twitter via @LanLiveSport, like us on Facebook or find us on Instagram for the latest sports news, pictures and video.
