Sturrock: 'I will have to have a chat with the laddie this week'
So will Blues boss Paul Sturrock start with influential midfielder Kane Ferdinand in the League Two opener against Saturday, August 6th at Roots Hall against the Bulls of Hereford United; kick-off 15.00.
It's certainly a gamble if he did, while he's been with the Republic of Ireland under-19's in Romania, and just 35 minutes of game time in their march to the semi-finals, where they were beaten by Spain 5-0, young Kane has not turned out in any of the Shrimpers pre-season friendlies, including the final game against Canvey Island where we promised he would make an appearance.
Sturrock told www.echo-news.co.uk: “I will have to have a chat with the laddie this week and see how he feels about things. It has certainly been a blow that Kane has missed our whole pre-season because we ideally would have wanted to get him fitted in to the style and system we want to play. We would also have liked to have seen him alongside the midfielders we have here and worked out who blended well together but that hasn’t happened. He was away with Ireland but he didn’t get as many minutes as we would’ve liked either and that’s also a concern because he hasn’t played a full game since May now. It’s certainly something I will be mulling over this week.”
Tough one for Luggy, along with the striking shortage as well.
See what EEB thinks in our opening preview of the season Thursday, but for me, Kane and new signing Liam Dickinson on the bench, Bilel upfront with Bomber, and Mark Phillips returning at centre-back.
Easy!