Steven Schumacher wants his injury-hit side to end the season with some pride restored after dropping out of the play-off race, writes Pete Oliver.
Wanderers’ top six hopes were ended with a back-to-back defeats over the Easter weekend which took the losing run to four games and seven losses from the last nine fixtures.
A crippling injury list hasn’t help the failed promotion push and Schumacher could be without up to a dozen players for Saturday’s trip to Peterborough United for what is now a dead rubber. But the head coach is still demanding a response to recent results as he looks to at least finish the campaign on an upward curve ahead of a summer re-build.
“It's two games coming up that we want to try and end the season with some sort of momentum and some more positivity out of it if we can,” insisted Schumacher. “We don't want to lose five games in a row. I think that's the first objective. To have lost four games in a row was really disappointing, especially for how well we were playing and what we had at stake.
“We've just managed to not get the results we needed to. Some of the games have been okay, but in other games we've got what we deserved. We definitely won't be going into this game thinking there's nothing to play for. We can’t take it easy.
“We've got very few players to pick from and the players that we have to pick from have got to try and perform because we don't want to lose again. It's so important that we start playing and take some pride from it.
“We hope we can put a performance in our fans can get behind. The last two away games haven't been good enough. To concede four goals away from home twice has been a huge blow. We have to put that right on Saturday.”
Wideman Szabi Schön is expected to return for the trip to London Road after missing five games through injury but that’s where the good news ends for the Whites as they look to stop the rot against a Peterborough side which recently retained the Vertu Trophy but has also come up short in the league.
As well as those that didn’t figure in Monday’s season-ending loss at Lincoln, Shumacher is also now without Ricardo Almeida Santos, Kion Etete and Sonny Sharples-Ahmed through injury. In addition, Josh Dacres-Cogley serves a one-match ban and George Johnston may be missing depending on the timing of the arrival of his first child.
Certain players, like defender Eoin Toal, will now not be rushed back with nothing tangible to strive for and Wanderers’ squad at Posh is likely to be topped up by a handful of Academy youngsters.
“The amount of injuries that we have is new for me. It's not happened before,” added Schumacher. “Twelve players, potentially, could not be available at the weekend, which is a challenge. Where those challenges happen, it gives an opportunity for somebody else. The young players are going to be involved again over the next couple of games. If they can get some minutes on the pitch and make EFL debuts, that's great.
“I just think we just want to get through the next two games. If we can get a result and get some positivity, we'll take that into next year. But for now, the focus is just to try and get through Saturday's game against Peterborough as best as we can.
“For any team to lose the players that we have and the quality that we had, it's going to take a toll on everybody. It's going to be a challenge. I will say I think some of the performances have been good. Some players have stepped up.
“But insome of them we've let ourselves down as well with mistakes and performances where we haven't got the results that we want. But this happens in football. It's been a challenge but we have to try and overcome it.”
Watch the full pre-match interview with the head coach on Wanderers TV