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In good nick

Simon Smedley
5/11/2008

THE magic of the FA Cup returns for Football Leagues One and Two clubs on Saturday, and Jim Gannon is looking forward to taking a fully-fit County squad down to take on improving Yeovil Town at Huish Park.

The first round tie is potentially a very tough one as the Glovers are unbeaten in four games, but so are County.

An intriguing contest is in prospect.

Gannon said: "The cup competitions haven’t been great for us this season yet, and Saturday’s is another tough away game, similar to the ones at Leicester in the Carling Cup and Bury in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.

"But I’m glad we’ve been able to have a full week to recover, and we are on the back of four excellent results.

"I’m really pleased with what we’ve achieved over the past few weeks, but we can leave the league table alone for a while and concentrate on this one-off match.

"We’ve had a nice little break and we are in good form, but the heat will be turned right up on Thursday and Friday ahead of a game we most definitely want to win."

Meanwhile, Gannon has revealed that, while he is delighted to have a fully-fit 26-man squad available for selection, some players may well be allowed to leave County on loan over the next few weeks in order to gain some much-needed match practice.

Three recent loanees - Tony Kane, Fraser Forster and Jaroslaw Fojut - have all returned to their parent clubs this week [turn to page 70], with striker Craig Davies coming into the club from Oldham on a deal until January 3.

Gannon added: "We’ve got a Cheshire Senior Cup tie at Crewe [last night, Tues] and a Manchester Senior Cup tie against Bolton coming up next week, but some of our players are going to be kicking their heels because they want to play competitive football. The hardest thing now is giving everyone games.

"Some players may come to see me about the situation and there may be a few who go out on loan in order to get some match sharpness.

"It’s fantastic to have 26 pros available though. There’s competition for every position on the pitch. It’s a healthy situation and I couldn’t be more pleased at present. We’re looking very strong."

Oldham are happy for striker Davies - who made his County debut against Carlisle on Saturday - to play in the Cup for the Hatters at Yeovil.