Neil Critchley provides encouraging news from Daniel Gretarsson's scan, plus update on injured trio ahead of Blackpool's game against Shrewsbury

The Blackpool defender is still likely to be sidelined for a week or two, but head coach Neil Critchley has confirmed the knock isn’t as serious as first feared.

The 24-year-old suffered the injury during Blackpool’s 1-0 win against Sunderland last weekend, where he also picked up a dead leg.

“He went for a scan on Tuesday and there’s no significant damage,” Neil Critchley said, speaking this morning ahead of Saturday’s game against Shrewsbury Town.

“He’s had a significant impact injury. He’s fallen on it, so it’s weakened the area around his shoulder, so it’ll go a little off his pain threshold, a little bit off how he’s feeling on a day-by-day basis and how quickly we can build up the strength in that area of his shoulder.

“There’s two courses of action you can take and it’ll come down to - in the next week or two weeks - how his recovery goes, how he feels and how much we can strengthen that area of his body.

“But Daniel is in a positive frame of mind and he obviously wants to contribute between now and the end of the season, so we just have to be patient and see how the next seven to 14 days goes.

“It’s not the worst news, but it gives us a bit of a dilemma. Sometimes it’s easier when you have a clean break because you have an operation and at least you know what you’re facing.

“With this type of situation, it’s good news but it puts you in a situation where we have to try and think about the best course of action. That’s got to come from the medical team, Daniel and myself.

“We just have to see how the pain subsides. Hopefully it does and Daniel says he’s good to go. If not, we find another solution.”

Elsewhere, Pool have no fresh injury concerns ahead of Saturday’s return to Bloomfield Road, where Critchley’s men will be looking to get back to winning ways after losing their 16-game unbeaten run against Rochdale in midweek.

“It’s going to be a similar squad again from Tuesday night,” Critchley confirmed.

“It’s getting quite boring this, isn’t it? With the way our season has gone we’re used to having either three in, or three out. But we have no injuries to report from our game on Tuesday.

“Kevin (Stewart) has been back on the grass and has done some training with the group this week. There’s been no adverse reaction to the work he’s done so far. Saturday might come too soon for him, so it’s probably looking more likely it’ll be next week.

“Keshi (Anderson) will hopefully join back in training as of next week. Gary Madine is back on the grass and doing some running, which is positive as well.

“But I don’t see any of those three being involved this weekend.

“It would be a boost to get them back (between now and the end of the season), particularly those three players as well because they’re big players for different reasons.

“You look at their experience, ability and personality, they bring different qualities to the team, so would help us massively.

“If we can extend our season, then those players would be a big lift for us at such an important time.”

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