Jansen hopeful injured stars can start to return

Marcus Carver is mobbed by his team-mates after hitting the winner for Chorley against Nuneaton

Jansen was boosted by the return of one of his three injured centre-halves, former Manchester City and Burnley man Stephen Jordan for Saturday’s 1-0 win over Nuneaton.

Keeper Sam Ashton (knee) is out for the season, while defender Kieran Charnock is expected to be out for up to six weeks due to a fractured eye socket.

Striker Sefton Gonzales has a stomach strain and skipper Andy Teague (toe) has also been missing.

But Jansen, whose men moved back up to third in the National League North table after ending a three-match winless run, is hopeful for good news ahead of Saturday’s game at Gainsborough as he prepares to rest players in the LFA Challenge Trophy at Squires Gate tonight.

He said: “We’ve conceded a few goals (before Saturday) but we have had three centre halves injured – it is not rocket science.

“We had one of them back against Nuneaton, the most experienced one (Jordan) and it shows, back to a clean sheet.

“How many of those have we had? But when you have all of the centre halves missing, you are going to concede goals.

“It was pleasing to have Stevie back, he is still feeling it a little bit but he soldiered on and hopefully it will settle down and he will be fit for next week.

“Obviously Sam is out. Teaguey is not quite ready, Kieran is out for five to six weeks and we will have to assess that.

“Sefton has got a stomach strain, we have got injuries but that is football, that is no excuse – we had four or five injuries against Nuneaton and we got a result.

“We will see how they are ahead of Saturday’s game and hopefully a couple will be back and we will be even stronger.”

Jansen is planning on giving some of the development squad a chance to shine when they start their defence of the LFA Trophy at Squires Gate tonight.