Jack Iredale is ready to tough it out to face former club Cambridge United, writes Pete Oliver.
Iredale suffered a badly split ear following a blow from a stray elbow in the Whites’ weekend draw with Charlton Athletic.
But the Wanderers’ defender - who spent two seasons with the U's before joining the Whites the summer of 2022 - won’t give up his shirt easily.
And after several stitches in the wound, the 27-year-old plans to be available for selection for Tuesday night’s return trip to the Abbey Stadium.
“Basically, his ear was in two places on Saturday. It was a really nasty injury and had to have a plastic surgeon repair it,” confirmed Whites’ boss Ian Evatt.
“It was pretty nasty to look at but great credit to Jack. He strapped it up and got on with it. He's a brave boy and wants to be involved tomorrow and provided we get the right padding there's no reason why he can't be.”
Goalscorer Victor Adeboyejo was also in the wars during Saturday’s 3-3 draw and after a finger in the eye left him with blurred vision the striker – who had given Wanderers an early lead – came off at half-time.
However, he is also fit as the Whites head back to Cambridge two weeks after the last meeting was abandoned due to a waterlogged pitch less than 10 minutes in.
“We’ve checked the weather forecast. It looks a lot fairer than it did last time!” said Evatt. “The games are coming around thick and fast and it’s another opportunity for us to go and get some points on the board.”
Wanderers, who would move level on points with second-placed Derby County with a ninth away win in League One this season, are still without half-a-dozen players due to injury and the final game of George Thomason’s three-match ban.
But the medical bulletin is looking brighter as Wanderers aim to build on a six-match unbeaten run at the start of an eight-day spell of three successive away games
“Rico has trained fully today absolutely fine,” added Evatt. “Tomorrow comes too soon, but we’ll use the next two days to get some real work into him to make sure he's ready for next week. We're hoping for Dion to be back training by the end of the week which gives him a great opportunity for Wigan (next Tuesday).
“Randell will return next week and Nathan’s pot comes off next week. We will know more about that injury then, so things are getting better on that front. But we can't control that either. We've just got to focus on who's available and make sure we perform with whatever team I pick.
"Everything we do has to be together. It doesn't matter who we select on any given day, they're all going to be needed. They all have to make sure they're ready for that moment. Jon Dadi has had some frustrations, but the last two games has scored two goals. That’s how quickly it can change. Victor also scored on Saturday and it's for players now to step up.”