Evatt: Football Always Gives You Opportunities

Ian Evatt will run fitness checks on a number of players and potentially give chances to others to try and seize the opportunity to fire Wanderers to Wembley.

The Whites face Accrington Stanley in a Papa Johns Trophy semi-final on Wednesday night with three members of their squad – forwards Shola Shoretire, Victor Adeboyejo and Dan Nlundulu ­– cup-tied and unable to feature.

Wanderers also have concerns over three others as they look to overcome the Reds and set up a final date against either Cheltenham Town or Plymouth Argyle.

Striker Cameron Jerome is suffering from a back problem, while Gethin Jones and Kyle Dempsey both picked up knocks in Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Wycombe Wanderers and had to be replaced as the Whites lost for the first time in six games.

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“I don’t have news yet on those,” said Evatt of the latter pair as the Wanderers’ boss conducted media duties ahead of the mid-week meeting at the Wham Stadium.

“They’re being scanned so we’ll see how the results come back, but I’d be wary if they’re going to be available or not for Wednesday night.

“Cameron has had another back spasm in the same place so that’s really not settled as much as we’d like yet.

“They can settle really quickly (though) so we’re confident that he may be available for Wednesday.

“We’re in the lap of the gods with the other two.”

Wanderers have certainly seen their playing resources stretched as they seek to reach a first knock-out cup final since 2004 and a first Wembley appearance since 2011.

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But with all of the Whites’ fit senior players set to be in the squad at the Wham Stadium, there is the potential for an unlikely hero to emerge.

“Football always gives you opportunities and whatever team we pick we have to believe it’s good to get us through to a cup final,” added Evatt.

“We’ve got a very good squad of players. We’ve had to utilise that over recent weeks but everybody has stepped up and shown what good players they are and hopefully they can do that again on Wednesday.

“It’s funny. Football seasons always present opportunities. Certain players have been unhappy with certain things that have gone on in recent times and it probably gives them an opportunity to put things right.

“Let’s see how we get on on Wednesday and we’ll be going all out to try and get us through to that final.”

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