Light at the end of the tunnel for Blackpool as players return from Covid-19 ahead of Northampton Town clash

The club announced Demetri Mitchell, who was last night linked with a deadline day move to Rochdale, tested positive last month, before going on to confirm a further five had returned positive tests prior to the recent FA Cup tie against Brighton & Hove Albion.

While the players involved weren’t named, the likes of Jack Sims, Ollie Turton, Dan Ballard, Kenny Dougall, Cameron Antwi and Grant Ward weren’t involved against Brighton and the following league game against Wigan Athletic.

With Luke Garbutt, Daniel Gretarsson, Keshi Anderson and CJ Hamilton already out injured, that left Blackpool’s squad incredibly stretched.

But with the six players affected by Covid now back in training, Critchley’s squad won’t be as depleted as it was for tonight’s game against Northampton Town.

“They’re back in. They joined in at different stages towards the back end of last week and they’re training,” Critchley said.

“All of those boys have done a little bit of their own work after self-isolating and they’re back in, they’re training and they’ll be available for selection.

“In terms of when they return to the side, you have to take it on an individual basis. You speak to them regularly, our physio, doctor, sports scientist and myself speak to them to see how they are and how they’ve been feeling.

“If you take Chris Maxwell and Matty Virtue (who tested positive over Christmas), they were quite ill with it so we had to be quite careful when they returned. You grade their return to training a little bit.

“With these boys, it’s slightly different because they’ve pretty much remained asymptomatic all the time. It’s just been the odd little thing here and there, but nothing major.

“They’re fine, they’re feeling fit and fresh and ready to go.”

Garbutt, who missed last week’s 5-0 win against Wigan with an abductor problem, is likely to return to contention for the weekend trip to Ipswich Town.

“He’s been back on the grass running and stepping up his rehab,” Critchley added

“We’re going to look at him again but I think Tuesday night might come a bit too soon for him, so it’s more likely Saturday will be the best option for him at this moment.

“Hopefully we’ll have one or two returning for Northampton. You get bumps and bruises from games and little knocks, so we’ve been assessing those players.

“Hopefully on Tuesday night and particularly on Saturday we’ll have a few more returning and it’ll be healthy competition within the squad.”

As for Blackpool’s three longer-term injury absentees, Gretarsson, Anderson and Hamilton, Critchley says their situation remains unchanged.

“It’s the same,” Pool’s head coach said.

“Keshi will obviously be the longest out of the three but Daniel and CJ are stepping up their rehab work.

“They’re both here and fingers crossed we don’t hit any bumps in the road and they get back sooner rather than later because that’ll give us a big boost.”

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