Iron manager Russ Wilcox is hoping to have goalkeeper Sam Slocombe back in contention for a place in the side against Fleetwood.
The club captain missed United’s first game of the new campaign at Glanford Park over the weekend due to a shoulder injury which he picked up against Blackburn in the Capital One Cup.And Wilcox is eager to get Slocombe back involved as Scunthorpe look to pick up their first points of the season.
He told The Iron Player: “He’s done some work with Paul Musselwhite on Monday afternoon so hopefully we’ll know more about the full extent of his injury soon.
“Sam has played a massive role in the things that we’ve done in the last couple of years so fingers crossed he’ll be okay.
“I felt sorry for James (Severn) on Saturday and I don’t think he did a lot wrong.
“He’s worked so hard to get that opportunity and a lot of people don’t see all the hard work that goes off behind the scenes but I certainly do and so do my staff.
“James and Sam are always the first two players in the building and the last out so they’re fantastic professionals.”
The manager had a busy Monday morning as he welcomed two new players to the club in the form of Billy Kee and Luke O’Neill.
And Wilcox hasn’t ruled out bringing in more bodies, admitting that he’s constantly on the lookout for potential targets.
“It’s been hard work finalising the two deals this weekend and it’s difficult to say where we’re at with bringing anyone else in at the moment but we’re always looking,” he continued.
“Without trying to make excuses, it’s been a really tough start to the season on the injury side and we’ve lost two players in the spine of the team from last season.
“Sam missed the game at the weekend as well and fingers crossed he’s going to be okay for tomorrow night.
“The important thing for me is to believe in the other lads in the squad which I do.”
The Iron players will now be focusing on Tuesday nights encounter with Fleetwood and putting the 4-0 setback against Preston firmly behind them.
Wilcox stated that he was pleased with how his squad trained on Monday and wants them to put the things they’ve learned from Saturday’s performance into practice against the Cod Army.
He added: “We had a really good session on Monday and I came out of it feeling good.
“Obviously Saturday was disappointing but I think we started the game really well and for the first 16 minutes, I thought we were the better team.
“We hit the bar, their ‘keeper made a great save and we were on the front foot but goals change games and Preston showed what a quality outfit they are.
“We’re only two games into the season and it’s only a matter of days since we played outstandingly well against Blackburn.
“We addressed the negative aspects of our play against Preston on Monday morning and we worked on that in training so now we’ve got to put that into practice on Tuesday night.”
See much more from Russ Wilcox, and others, on The Iron Player.