Playing Deji Oshilaja was a risk worth taking says Mansfield Town boss Nigel Clough
Mansfield Town boss Nigel Clough admits throwing defender Deji Oshilaja into Saturday's thrilling late 2-1 home win over Rotherham United was a big risk.
Last season's Player of the Year has been out injured since pre-season, but with so many players currently out and a possible international break looming after this Saturday's game at Reading, Clough thought it worth taking a chance.
“It was a risk playing Deji, but we needed a result and there was no one else,” said Clough.
“We thought that if we get the international break next week, which Plymouth have applied for with their international players, then after that break we would hope to have four, five, six players back.
“That made it more imperative to play him as if anything did happen then at least the other players would be back in a couple of weeks.
“So that sort of justified the risk.
“I don't think Deji will be doing too much training this week while getting ready for Saturday.
“The most important thing is managing his match minutes, especially up to Christmas as he builds back up.
“He did manage to do a fair bit of pre-season before he had to drop out.
“So he did get that under his belt, but when you are out for two months, unfortunately you lose most of that.
“It is now just a matter of building him up.
“He is such an important player for us as his performances last season showed.
“It is about getting that balance right of getting him out there when we can and looking after him and maybe resting him for one or two as well.
“This Saturday is a difficult one. We will just see how he feels this week in training.
“His groin was sore after Saturday so we will judge how he feels come Friday more than anything.
“We will have a catch up on injuries later in the week and see but I don't think anyone is going to be back apart from Ryan Sweeney from suspension for Saturday.
“We just need to do everything we can to try to get through Saturday with a positive result and then with a bit of luck we will get a two week break.”
On opponents Reading, Clough said: “They played well against Stockport by all accounts, but they are a funny team.
“I saw them at Bolton earlier in the season and Bolton could have been three or four ahead in the first hour of the game and they weren't.
“There was only one goal in it and all of a sudden Reading played their way back in.
“They are a very dangerous team, as dangerous as anyone, especially on the break.
“We saw that at the end of last season at the One Call. We played extremely well for the majority of the game and they just picked us off on the break and we lost 5-1 in a game that we could have won.
“They are still that sort of team, very dangerous and even more so at home.
“We played well at Reading but conceded a couple of scrappy goals and lost 2-1.
“So Saturday will be another good measure for us to see if we have improved since last season.”
Dom Dwyer popped up with a late winner last Saturday and Clough said: “It was an important win for us.
“There was nothing in the game really like a lot of League One games. It is just whether you get a break or not.
“It was two good teams, both with a few missing, playing out what I thought was a good, entertaining League One game.
“It always feels a bit more special when you score to win it late on, especially after what had happened the weekend before, losing in the 94th minute when we didn't deserve to,
“I think it speaks volumes for the strength and character of the squad.
“Players realise the quality of players we have missing and they will see Deji Oshilaja on the team sheet when they have only seen him in one training session.
“So they realise the situation and to go out and beat a team like Rotherham in those circumstances with what we had out there, it was as good a three points as we will get all season.”
Stags await confirmation of an international break and Clough said: “Plymouth have applied with their players. And we have two, maybe three, being called up, but two of them are possibly U21s.
“These expanded squads have confused everything as well.
“The EFL are not keen on cancelling games until the squads get whittled down.
“I feel very much for the Plymouth fans as you don't know in 12 days time if you are coming up to Mansfield or not.
“Do you buy a train ticket? Buy one and you could lose your money or buy one nearer the time and it is much more expensive.
“I think all these practicalities have to be taken into account. I think we should be thinking about supporters more than anything.”