A number of United’s first team players have become available for selection again recently and assistant manager Ned Kelly admits it’s good to have competition for places.
Goalkeeper Sam Slocombe made his first start in almost three months at Peterborough last Saturday and full-back Eddie Nolan has also resumed full training.Luke Waterfall returned to the club this week following his loan spell at Macclesfield and Kelly stated that it’s good to have players vying for places in the side.
He told The Iron Player: “It’s great to have competition in the squad.
“We’re always looking to improve players who have been out injured.
“Eddie Nolan has started training now so he’ll be looking to try and force his way back into the team and competition for places is key.
“Luke Waterfall is a Scunthorpe player so we’ll have a butchers and see what we think and we’ll see what goes on after that.”
Another player could soon be providing realistic competition for a first team place is youth team player Taron Hare.
The youngster was handed a squad number this week and travelled to Peterborough with the pros last Saturday and Kelly understands the importance of trying to develop the club’s young players.
“The manager is keen to bring the younger players through,” he continued.
“Taron has trained with us a few times since we arrived at the club and he’s done well as have Kyle Wootton and Levi Sutton so it will be great if we can get a few kids through.
“It’s important that we have a pathway from the youth team into the first team and into the first team group and hugely important that we can try and get a few of these boys playing at league level.”
See much more from Ned Kelly, Shaun Brisley and Marcus Williams on The Iron Player ahead of this weekend's game.