Cambridge United boss Neil Harris to make late check on fitness of Ryan Loft ahead of League One clash at Wigan Athletic

Cambridge United head coach Neil Harris has revealed that a ‘late decision’ will be made as to whether or not Ryan Loft will be available for Saturday’s trip to face Wigan Athletic.

The forward, who has started each of United’s last 10 League One fixtures, came off at half-time during Tuesday night’s 1-0 defeat to Stevenage with a combination of back and hamstring issues.

Loft was unable to take part during today’s training session, and it remains to be seen if he will recover in time to make the journey up north.

Harris said: “It’s his back and hamstring. He’s not been on the training pitch today and we’ll have to see how he goes towards the weekend as to whether he makes the trip or not – it will be a late decision on that.

“He felt it stretching for a ball early on. He played on and got to half-time, but at half-time he was worried about it so we made the simple decision to take him off.

“If Lofty makes it great, he’ll be in the 18 to travel. If he’s not then other players will have to step up obviously.”

A decision will also need to be made on the potential inclusion of new signing Scott Malone.

The left-back, who joined the U’s as a free agent earlier this week, has not played a competitive fixture since August.

Harris added: “He might be involved and he might travel. We’ll have the meeting this afternoon (Thursday) as to whether we’ll take him or not.

“I’ll have a conversation with Scott as well to see how he’s feeling after a couple of training sessions.

“We are light on numbers at the moment so we need all hands to the pump, especially with proven good players at this level, so if it’s not this weekend then hopefully Tuesday (against Blackpool).”

The United boss also confirmed that Jordan Cousins trained earlier today having missed the loss to Stevenage through illness.

Sullay Kaikai also took a full part in training after a number of weeks on the sidelines through injury, but this weekend will come too soon for the winger to make his return.