Coventry City injury news from CoventryLive as Frank Lampard is boosted by some encouraging news from the Sky Blues treatment room
Frank Lampard is boosted by the return of two of his injured Coventry City players to training while two others remain a “work-in-progress” ahead of a busy Easter weekend of two games in the space of four days.
The Sky Blues kick the holiday schedule off against play-off rivals West Bromwich Albion in front of a sell-out crowd at the CBS Arena on Good Friday (3pm) before a long Bank Holiday Monday trip to relegation battling Plymouth Argyle.
City were without six players for last Monday’s trip to Hull when Lampard named two goalkeepers and a youngster on the bench to make up the numbers at a time when Oliver Dovin and Victor Torp are both out for the season.
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Winger Ephron Mason-Clark (foot) and centre-back Bobby Thomas (calf) are the latest casualties who sat out the 1-1 draw against the Tigers and who remain doubts for the clash with Tony Mowbray’s Baggies.
Asked for an update on Mason-Clark, the City boss said: “He’s still got his issue with his foot so we’re working on that, which is a work in progress.”
As for defender Thomas, he continued: “Yeah, he’s still got the same small calf issue so we will try to get him back as quickly as possible.”
Asked if the two will be back before the end of the season, he said: “Yes.”
There’s good news, meanwhile, regarding home-grown midfielder Josh Eccles, with Lampard revealing: “Josh is back training with us, as of yesterday (Weds), albeit a bit partial, but very close to being ready to be involved again.”
As for whether striker Brandon Thomas-Asante is likely to be fit to be involved against his former club, Albion, he added: “Brandon has trained over the last couple of days so he’s close as well.”
Reflecting on Torp’s season-ending ankle injury suffered against Portsmouth, Lampard said: “Yeah, he’s a huge miss for us. Torpy has been fantastic in every way since I’ve been here with his attitude, training levels, his technical level is high and he’s scored us some important goals and he can play in different positions in midfield.
“So he’s a really big miss and more than anything I’m disappointed for Torpy because I have found him to be a really great lad and professional in this time, and he gives me options that we now lack, which is a real shame for him and us.”
He added: “We’ve had some bigger injuries since I have been here. Haji (Wright) was out for a long time and Ben Sheaf, who is obviously our captain, and Ephron now has been out a couple of times. Every club and manager has their challenges but we’re talking about really important players, and I have not even mentioned Ollie (Dovin), who’s now obviously out (with an ACL).
“So they’re a challenge and I think everyone sees that and we have to work with it and be collective, and go again with the players that we have got. It’ll be a tough period because we’ve got these two games back to back, which will test the squad but we’re nearly there, towards the end of the season, so everyone just has to absolutely dig in on that sense and be together and try to perform well.”
