Mansfield Town hoping on trio’s fitness

Matty Blair on his arrival at Mansfield Town.

Blair, out since February with a serious knee injury, has made steady progress, though defender Luke Jones remains sidelined after a year and boss Adam Murray said this week: “Nothing has really changed regarding those two.

“Blairy is back running and he’s looking strong and fit. So we will sit down with him over the next couple of weeks and decide where we go with that one.

“Luke is still under the care of specialists and deciding the path he is going to take.

“That will be a decision that Luke and the club will make over the next month. Hopefully we will have some more detailed information soon.”

Stags expect to have Adi Yussuf in the squad this weekend after the new striker did extra training sessions to make up for the weakness he suffered after observing Ramadan.

“He is strong, he’s trained and he played in a behind-closed-doors game and scored at the end of last week,” said Murray

“He seems to have a habit of putting it in the net so far. It’s been a little bit frustrating for him as he’s not been able to hit the levels yet that he wants to.

“But since he came back from Ramadan he’s been putting the extra work in. he’s been doing extra fitness sessions and he looks sharp, he looks strong, and that’s a bonus for us.”