Kovacs back in training ahead of Macclesfield clash

Defender Janos Kovacs is back in the reckoning for Town’s Blue Square Bet Premier clash with Macclesfield at Kenilworth Road tomorrow, writes Mike Simmonds.

The Hungarian has missed the last two games with a groin problem, but manager Paul Buckle confirmed on Thursday he should be available for selection.

The boss said: “His prospects are quite good actually. He’s trained which is a good thing, now hopefully we can get rid of the niggly injuries he suffered because he’s a big player for us.”

Whether Kovacs comes straight back into the side though is another decision for Buckle, as Dean Beckwith played his first league game in almost a year against Ebbsfleet on Monday, winning the News/Gazette online MOM poll afterwards.

Buckle continued: “It might not be Dean Beckwith, it might be somebody else (who makes way). They’re all performing well which makes it difficult.

“Beckwith has come in and done great. It was a slight worry for me to pick Deano as he’s not had too much football the last few months but it just shows you the value of training at tempo and getting development games and reserve games because you keep your players up to speed.

“When they are called upon they can take it like Dean’s done and I don’t foresee Dean losing his place, that’s for sure.

“With Janos coming back in, I have a decision to make provided he doesn’t get any kick backs.

“Do you bring him back in because he was doing very well before he had to come out of the side?

“People say it’s a nice headache, I can assure you it’s not. It’s not easy if you have to leave players out but it’s part of the job and players know there’s good competition.

“We haven’t got massive numbers at the club, we’ve got really good competition and I think that comes from players believing they’ve got a chance of playing every week.”

With Ronnie Henry serving the second game of his three match suspension, Alex Lawless will continue at right back and Buckle has been delighted with his impact.

He added: “We did well without Ron, that was nice to see we could cope with that. He’s a big player for us, but Lawless did excellent at right back.

“His performance levels have been fantastic and just shows you how important it is to have players who can slot into different positions,

“We don’t think we’re going to be getting (Garry) Richards or (Danny) Spiller back for a little while yet and the players are coping well.”

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