Evatt: No Holiday Mode

MJ Williams will be missing but boss Ian Evatt expects his side to go full throttle in pursuit of a winning end to the season.

The broken bone in his hand sustained in last weekend’s victory at Cheltenham has ended Williams’ campaign a game too soon.

The midfielder has been ruled out of Saturday’s finale at home to Fleetwood Town (kick-off 12.30pm) as Wanderers aim to make it four successive wins.

But Evatt insists no-one else will be knocking off early as the in-form Whites look to guarantee a top-10 finish.

“MJ won’t play,” confirmed the Wanderers’ boss.

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“It’s not too serious but serious enough to keep him out and we don’t really want to take any risks anyway.

“There are opportunities for players. We’ve got a really strong squad now and we’re able to shake it about a little bit.

“Whatever team I pick, I’ll be expecting us to win the game.

“We have a duty to ourselves and our own fans. We want to win and we’ve trained really, really well this week.

“I can see from the players and their mind-set and mentality there has been no holiday mode.

“They all want to play and we’ll pick the strongest available team to try and win the game.”

While Wanderers need a point to secure a top-10 slot in their first season back in League One, Fleetwood are fighting to stay in the division.

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Kyle Dempsey is a candidate to replace Williams for the Whites after an impressive return from injury via the bench in the 2-1 success at Cheltenham.

And former Gillingham captain Dempsey could have a say in the fate of two of his former clubs with Fleetwood and the Gills two of the clubs fighting to avoid the drop on the final day.

Fleetwood must match Gillingham’s result to guarantee their survival – bar a heavy defeat and an avalanche of goals for AFC Wimbledon in their home game against Accrington Stanley.

But Evatt insists Dempsey will only be concerned with finishing his own season on a high.  

“Kyle is focused on his role here and focused on, number one, getting himself 100 per cent and then, number two, performing the way he can,” added Evatt, whose side is unbeaten in their last seven games.

“And I thought he was brilliant when he came on in the second half last Saturday and no doubt he’ll be looking forward to the game.”

Wanderers are also still without Ricardo Almeida Santos and their other longer-term absentees but Evatt expects the captain and midfielder Kieran Lee to be fully fit by the start of pre-season training in mid-June.

 

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