Kabongo Tshimanga looks set to avoid a lengthy injury absence despite sustaining a hamstring tear against Harrogate Town.
The striker had to be substituted off during last weekend’s 0-0 draw with The Sulphurites as he tore his hamstring and was replaced by Paul Glatzel, who scored twice in his stead on Tuesday night against Bristol Rovers in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy.
Mark Kennedy said before that game that they believed it had been a small tear, which whilst not ideal meant his time out of the side would not be as lengthy as it could have been.
Ahead of the short trip to Cheltenham on Saturday, Kennedy said that whilst he still did not have a total diagnosis of the situation, it appeared that the striker on loan from Peterborough United would not be missing too much time.
He said: “No [I don’t have a full assessment of Tshimanga], I have not spoken to Jackson [Bradley] on him today, Thursday is probably the most manic day of the week, and whilst I am very passionate about all of the players, the ones that are not training are very low on my priorities list.
“It wasn’t something they were overly concerned about, we felt it was really good news and I haven’t been told anything different to that, so I would be stunned if it was anything worse than what we spoke about on Tuesday.”
On Tuesday Kennedy said of Tshimanga: “It is not a bad injury in terms of when he will be back on the grass.
“I am not saying that he will be back on Saturday but he has not got a bad injury, so he will be back soon for sure.”
Another player who won’t be making the journey to The EV Charger Points Stadium this weekend is Jeff King after he has spent the week at home with his family following the loss of his mother.
Kennedy said: “Incredibly sadly Jeff has lost his mum, so he is with family this week for multiple reasons.
“He has been training, he has a programme away from the club but we felt for Jeff and for his family that it was really important that they support each other and they connected.
“We have tried to do as much as we can from afar; I have conversations with him pretty much every day, he is a lovely guy and he will be back in with us on Monday.”
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