Shrewsbury sweating on players' fitness for Newport match
Michael Appleton has admitted Shrewsbury Town are sweating on the fitness of some players ahead of their massive game with Newport.
The Welsh side travel to Shropshire today for a match that could have a big bearing on either side's survival chances this season.
Town, coming off the back of a cup defeat to Northampton Town on Tuesday night, are battling with injuries ahead of today's match.
"We've got one or two that are definitely 50-50 and I'm not sure if they're going to come through, if I'm being honest," Appleton said.
"But we've got a small enough group as it is, we want to try and limit the injuries that we do get.
"I think we're going to go into a period now where the pitch is going to get that little bit heavier, a little bit more dangerous on foot, so we're going to have to cope with that."
Attacker Ismeal Kabia is one of the players that Appleton is having to be careful with, as he manages a tendonitis issue.
The on-loan Arsenal forward was rested in midweek to keep him fresh for the relegation six-pointed against Newport.
Since joining Town, he has impressed in a number of positions and quickly become a key player, and Appleton believes his knock has been a result of increased exposure to men's football.
Appleton said: "He's fine. We just have to manage it as best we possibly can.
"It's something that he's had previously and it's something that he's going to have to cope with throughout his career.
"I think what happens is, from a loading point of view, he's getting a lot more minutes and a lot more training. I'm guessing it's very, very different with us than it would be with the 21s.
"Him using that, getting to know his body, is all part of his learning curve.
"He's helping us, he's certainly allowing us to get up the pitch at times. But if I'm Arsenal, and I know this because I spoke to them last week when they came in, they love the fact that we've exposed him to different positions."
Wet and windy weather has impacted Town's preparations for the crunch clash with Newport, with training affected by torrential rain and damaged pitches.
But the manager is not concerned about that and actually believes it may benefit his team as he looks for 'energy' from his players.
Appleton said: "Because of the weather and the pitches being a little bit heavy, training was reduced a little bit (on Thursday) as you can probably imagine. We're not going to be able to go through too much (on Friday)
"But that might not be a bad thing because I need energy tomorrow.
"I need the players' numbers to be really, really high because of the type of game it's going to be. There's going to be a bit of anxiety about the place, which is understandable.
"I certainly hope our fans do exactly what they've done in the previous two home games and get right behind the players.
"Hopefully as a group we can lift them as well and hopefully get the same sort of result."
When asked if any players from Tuesday night put themselves in contention for today's game, Appleton added: "I think they have to, all of them, just because of what I said. I thought the performance was good.
"Each player played his part, did what was asked of him.
"Anyone who was involved on Tuesday for more than a cameo appearance certainly gave themselves every chance to play."
