"We'll assess him at the back end of next week" - Assistant manager Cooper issues Town injury update

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Town assistant manager Andy Cooper says attacker Jamie Cooke isn't expected to be in contention for Tuesday night's game against Fylde.

Cooke hasn't played since the goalless draw with Dagenham and Redbridge on September 26 due to an abductor problem but is now back in full training.

"He trained fully on Thursday and Friday," Cooper said.

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"Not quite ready to be in contention for Tuesday but he'll train fully on Monday and then we'll assess him at the back end of next week."

Andy CooperAndy Cooper
Andy Cooper

On defender Festus Arthur, Cooper said: "He's continuing to progress, he's not back in full training.

"He's still doing his running and change of direction work and joining in small parts of unopposed training and he'll be reviewed to check everything's healed OK."

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Angelo Cappello remains on schedule in his recovery from a hamstring injury.

"It's that first stage where some of the speed work and dynamic movements are coming in, some of the change of direction stuff," he said.

"He's getting his boots on every day and he's out on the grass with the ball but his injury will get rescanned after a period and when we get the results from that we can then determine whether he's ahead of schedule.

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"He looks sharp, he's working hard to get himself back quicker but ultimately the medics will tell us whether he's on schedule or ahead."

Jack Evans had surgery on his ankle injury on Tuesday.

"We have to wait for the follow-up consultation post-surgery to find out the timescales for him," said Cooper.

Centre-back Jo Cummings remains a long-term absentee and isn't expected back until April.

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On striker Justin Iwobi's loan switch to Gainsborough Trinity, Cooper said: "We feel he needs senior football, coming out of the academy at Stoke, he needs to play in men's football.

"We're pleased he's got the opportunity to go and play some games in the Northern Premier League.

"We've got players coming back now, the bench now looks really strong.

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"We've made no secret of the fact that Justin and Jimiel are players for the future and need to get opportunities to train with us daily but play on a Saturday at a good competitive level, and then we monitor them from there."

Cooper says he isn't expecting any further ins or outs at the club.

"Not as far as I'm aware," he said.

"We're always keeping an eye out for what's happening but there's no getting away from the fact that the squad is what we've got at the moment and we need to keep developing and working to get the best out of the players that are in the building at the moment."

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