Brabin hopeful on Town trio for Braintree visit

He is also hoping that Dan Gleeson could be fit enough to start after overcoming an ankle injury and coming on as a second half substitute in the 1-1 draw at Mansfield on Tuesday night.

On the injuries, Brabin said: “Keith Keane was a dead leg he picked up in the game on Saturday against Southport.

“Alex Lawless played against Southport with a virus and kept it to himself and just wanted to play football. It always finds a weakness in the body and he felt a twinge in his hamstring after the game.

“And Robbie’s had this little bit of a niggle with his groin and has struggled to shake it off.

“We are hopeful all three will be training with us today. If they are 100 per cent after that they are in contention for tomorrow.

“We always look at ourselves if it’s something we are doing in training, but it’s not.

“We are hoping we are getting our run of bad luck with the injuries early in the season.”

And on Gleeson, he continued: “He is another we will have to assess if he is ready to start a game.

However, Town still have a number of injury problems ahead of the visit of the Iron.

Brabin said: “Freddie Murray and Shane Blackett are an extension of what happened last year.

“They are on the training field but haven’t had the all clear to go hell for leather just yet.

“George Pilkington is a real concern for us and has taken longer than we expected. What we expected to be two weeks has been seven or eight weeks now.”

Winger Charlie Henry is also still out, but Brabin was delighted with the way the players he did have available on Tuesday night coped.

He added: “I thought it was a tough away game. The injury situation hasn’t been kind to us.

“To go there the lads showed a lot of spirit and were unlucky not to get the three points.”