Wanderers Await Johnston News

George Johnston will undergo a scan to assess the extent of a knee injury which took the shine of Wanderers’ opening pre-season work-out.

The Whites won 1-0 at Bamber Bridge thanks to a late goal from Randell Williams as boss Ian Evatt picked sides for each half to maximise the game-time for his squad.

However, Johnston managed just 10 minutes before being out forced out of the action with Wanderers concerned about the possible outcome for the defender.

“The most disappointing part of the day is George’s injury,” said Evatt.

“At the moment it doesn’t look good and we’re fearing the worst but we’ll try and stay positive and hope for some good news for next week.”

Wanderers also fear Eoin Toal may miss the start of the season as he continues to feel the effects of the ankle injury he sustained in the Whites’ Papa Johns Trophy final win at the start of April.

That would test the Whites’ defensive resources, although on the plus side they have already added former Port Vale central defender Will Forrester during the summer transfer window and Jack Iredale made a welcome return to action at Bamber Bridge.

He was joined by Jon Dadi Bodvarsson, who also missed the second half of last season, as Wanderers continued their pre-season preparation.

Kieran Sadlier

Not surprisingly, the Whites dominated much of the game against the Northern Premier League outfit but despite some impressive approach play didn’t convert more of their chances to give the scoreline a more realistic look.

“It was very much the story of last season,” added Evatt, who confirmed that Wanderers are still actively working to strengthen their squad.

“We created so many chances and just didn’t take them but we’ll try and relax into the pre-season campaign and make sure we improve every game.

“That’s our first game back. There was a lot of ring rust, a lot of fatigue. They’ve trained really hard for two weeks.

“You could see they were a yard off it today at times but there were positives as well.

“The most important thing is we can re-group as a team and progress again on Tuesday (at Curzon Ashton).”

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