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Back in action

Simon Smedley
23/ 1/2008

ALTHOUGH County will again be without first-team action this Saturday, defensive kingpins Ashley Williams and Gareth Owen are both ready to re-enter the fray.

They were both set to feature in the development team’s Manchester Senior Cup tie against Manchester City at Edgeley Park on Saturday, although this match has already been postponed. The club has taken an early decision to protect the pitch, which is still holding a lot of surface water.

Williams has been out since early November with a knee injury, while Owen has missed the last couple of games after limping out of the January 5 win at Notts County with a hamstring strain.

Before the postponement, both were expected to play some part in the City match and, provided they came through unscathed, Williams and Owen were likely to be in next Tuesday’s [29th] first-team squad for the home game against Chesterfield.

Hatters assistant boss Peter Ward said, also before the postponement: "Ashley has enjoyed 10 days of hard training now and he’s looking in good shape.

"He would have played in the development team game against Curzon Ashton last night [Tues] but that was postponed, so now he’s raring to go for Saturday.

"Gaz will join in training on Thursday and then should be okay for Saturday.

"[Physio] Rodger Wylde is optimistic that both of them will be available for Tuesday’s game against Chesterfield too, providing everything goes well on Saturday of course.

"It’s great news for the club. Ashley and Gaz are captain and vice-captain, and any team would miss them.

"They’re both major players and were ever-presents in our nine-match winning streak earlier this year.

"We shouldn’t under-estimate Michael Raynes’ improvement of late though.

"He’s come in and done really well at the heart of the defence.

"Maybe it’s been a blessing for Michael to get some much-needed games lately, but once everyone is back fully fit again then Jim and I might face a bit of a selection headache.

"It’s always good to have competition for places though."

COUNTY’s recently re-signed defender James Smith has tweaked ankle ligaments in training and is likely to be out of action for a couple of weeks.