Matty James will undergo a fitness test on Saturday morning before a decision is made on his involvement against Blackpool after the midfielder sustained an ankle injury in midweek against Huddersfield Town.
James completed 90 minutes in the 0-0 draw at the John Smith’s Stadium but looked set to leave the field at one point after a heavy challenge by Matty Pearson. Having soldiered through that game his participation for the visit of the Tangerines is now in serious doubt with manager Nigel Pearson revealing it was both an impact injury and a twist of the joint.
Such is James’ importance to the City team and the overall structure of the side, not to mention the on-field leadership he brings, with Pearson’s midfield options increasingly light following Joe Williams’ season-ending hamstring injury, the 31-year-old will remain in contention all the way until the teamsheet has to be confirmed.
“We’ll just have to wait until tomorrow, to make a late call on that one,” Pearson said. “That apart, we’re okay-ish. It’s part and parcel of Championship seasons. We’ve been a bit unlucky in games, that’s been the problem we’ve had - players pick up serious injuries in games - and that’s something you can never legislate for, really. It’s a bit of a tough one but we’ll see how we go.”
Pearson remains annoyed at the response from the PGMOL in light of the injury sustained to James having submitted a report of referee Leigh Doughty's performance via MOAS (Match Official Administration System), as Huddersfield’s robust tactics under Neil Warnock yielded just three yellow cards for the hosts.
“It was a shocking challenge,” Pearson added. “We joke about it, or make jokes at MOAS’ expense that we could wallpaper the office with all the excuses and poor reports that we get back. The one we got from the other night was embarrassing, to be honest with you. Not just Matty, some of our other players took heavy challenges.”
Should James not be given the green light to feature against Blackpool, Pearson’s options are essentially limited to starting Andi Weimann in the more advanced role and bringing Alex Scott in a deeper position alongside Andy King; moving Mark Sykes into central midfielder - although the manager seems reticent to do so given his potency on the right; or grant Omar Taylor-Clarke a full debut with the 19-year-old having trained with the first team for several months now and made his maiden appearance at Swansea City in the FA Cup.
The former looks like the most likely move and was how City played at Cardiff City last Saturday when Williams had to leave the field, but Pearson indicated Taylor-Clarke is ready, albeit wanting to temper expectations around the teenage talent.
“He’s been in the squad now for a while and he will get his opportunity at some point because we feel he’s very, very close to being able to perform at this level,” Pearson said of Taylor-Clarke.
As for Weimann, Pearson added: “He’s a versatile player. I spoke to him today and he’s fully aware he’s the type of player who can play many positions for us and that can sometimes work against individuals. That’s a problem sometimes players have to deal with. I don’t like to take those types of players for granted.”
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