Russ Wilcox gave an update on the fitness of his squad after the Walsall game and is frustrated about the fixture pile up his team face.
For the fourth consecutive week the Iron will be forced to play Saturday and then Tuesday, meaning they will have played eight times in less than a month.While progress in the Capital One Cup added a bonus game, Wilcox is keen to see his squad pull through without suffering any further injury blows.
The Iron already have a fair few casualties with Sam Slocombe, James Severn, Eddie Nolan, David Mirfin and Deon Burton notable absentees.
When speaking to The Iron Player after the game, Wilcox was left to bemoan the “crazy” fixture list that has hampered his team.
He said: “It’s crazy for me. I look at the fixture list at the start of the season and to have Saturday, Tuesday for nine games is crazy.
“It’s no coincidence that teams have picked up a lot of injuries. Walsall are the same, Reading the same, we’re the same. I just think it’s too many games.”
His cause is not helped by the fact new ruling restricts the team he can field on Tuesday night against Chesterfield in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.
The rules mean that the Iron will have to field a near full strength side, which will mean another match for the majority that played against Walsall.
Wilcox said: “We’ve got to go again Tuesday and the lads are shattered in there. I can only make so many changes because of the new rules regarding the JPT.
“I’ve got to play about seven, again, who played on Saturday. There’s then that chance of picking up more injuries.”
Despite the fact that his squad are struggling with injuries, the Iron boss remains keep to do well on all fronts this season.
He said: “It’s an opportunity to win a cup. Nigel (Adkins) did it when he was here, he got through to the final by playing strong teams.
“The league for us is massively important, we’ve seen that and we’re at the wrong end at the moment, but if we keep producing performances then we’ve got an opportunity to move up.”
The Iron were left hanging on at the end, but Wilcox believed that was down to a lot of his players starting to tire.
“We began to tire a bit so we will have to see how people are,” Russ continued.
“Marcus (Williams) has a tight hamstring, Lyle Taylor’s got a tight hamstring and I couldn’t even bring him on today.
“I was looking to maybe change and go with a front two today and freshen it up with Lyle and Billy (Kee) and he’s picked up a tight hamstring in the warm up.
“Bad news after bad news on the injury front, but obviously pleased to get the first win.”
See much more from Russ Wilcox, and others, on The Iron Player.