Super Cup Fitness

ARGYLE Academy Lead Sports Therapist Abner Bruzzichessi clarified the situation with central-defender Oscar Halls' injury after the final whistle of their 3-1 defeat by Dundee United in the Northern Ireland Super Cup.

"Oscar had a knock in our second game, against the Chileans, and he aggravated it in yesterday's game against Arsenal but he is improving and hopefully he will be fit enough for tomorrow's game against Leeds."

Bruzzichessi is aware that the youngsters desperately want to play but warned them: "They have to learn that if they are injured then they need to ask for help and I think a couple of the players have learned that lesson this week. They have to go to their physio and ask for advice as they are not really going to heal themselves."

Thirteen year-old midfielder Harley Sneap was another casualty, as Abner explained "Harley was taken to hospital, as a precaution, after injuring his hand during the game but, fortunately, nothing was broken."

Bruzzichessi also revealed that striker Oscar Massey has been playing with an injury. "Oscar has been struggling with his quad but, to be fair to him he has been very good, and we have been working very hard to get him fit every game, and the hard work has paid off for him."

Lead Sports Scientist Alex Booth is the man who records all the games and, with five games in as many days, he has also been working hard in Northern Ireland.

"It was a disappointing result [against Dundee United] after what has been a long and difficult week but we cannot fault the lads for their efforts as they have worked very hard but have unfortunately come up short,” said Alex.

"We have filmed all the games and that gives the lads and the coaches the opportunity to watch them and reflect on their performances. The lads also had the GPS on today and we will get more data from that.

"We will be watching today's game tonight and hopefully that will help us all prepare for tomorrow's final game against Leeds."