James Carragher boosts Wigan Athletic for Mansfield Town trip but key forward doubtful
Wigan Athletic defender James Carragher will travel with the squad to Mansfield Town this weekend, head coach Ryan Lowe has confirmed.
The Malta international has been sidelined since the middle of August with a thigh injury, which he underwent surgery on, but he is nearing his return to the field, and could well feature in Saturday’s League One clash against Mansfield at the One Call Stadium.
However, Latics are likely to be without last week’s super sub Maleace Asamoah due to a back injury, whilst they will be without Dara Costelloe for three matches after they failed in their appeal to overturn the Irishman’s red card he received in last week’s 1-0 win over Port Vale.
Providing an injury update, Lowe said: “With Maleace, I think someone said he collapsed to the ground after the game on Saturday, he had a bit of a back injury, so he hasn’t trained all week. We’ll see how he is today and then go from there.
“The good news is James Carragher is back in the fold. He’ll travel with the squad - he’s had a good week of training, he’s probably not ready for 60, 70 or 80 minutes, but I’m sure he could maybe play a part late on in the game, so that’s good news.
“Baba (Adeeko) and his missus have just had a new baby – congratulations to them – he has had a few days off, Tyrese (Francois) is not far behind, so the quicker we get all these players back up and running. (Steven) Sessegnon trained this week, so we’ll see how he is, but once we get those players back, it bodes well for having a good, fit squad.”
Latics ended their six-match winless run in last week’s victory over Port Vale, and Lowe would love nothing more than registering their first away win of the campaign this week to make it successive wins, but he is under no illusions of the tough task ahead.
"Back-to-back wins would be great – it helps you get up the table,” said Lowe.
“We definitely need to give a good account of ourselves. Nigel (Clough, Mansfield manager) gets his teams set up very good and has had plenty of success. We’re aware of that, but I’m sure they’re also aware of us coming off the back of a win like we had.
"Going to a place like Mansfield, we’ve got to make sure we are on it. We’ve prepared right for it and given the lads all the tools. It’s one that if we go there and perform to the levels we know we can, hopefully we can back last Saturday up with back-to-back wins.
“Mansfield will want to push on and try to get into the play-offs. They are well-coached and well-managed, and are well structured in what they do. We have to have no fear factor in respecting other teams.
"We have to make sure we are solid and resolute when we have not got the ball. When we have the ball, we feel like we can hurt them in certain areas. Hopefully, we can perform to the levels and come out with a positive result.”