What Carlisle United boss said about latest injury to Derby County loan striker Jack Stretton

Stretton limped off in the first half of last night’s Papa John’s Trophy defeat at Barrow.

The Derby County loanee rolled his ankle unchallenged and could not continue.

Simpson says Stretton will be assessed today to determine whether a scan is needed.

“There was nobody around him – he just put his studs in the ground and went over.

“It’s just unfortunate. We’ve had a spell worrying about hamstrings and looking at all the things we're doing in training, in gym work, everything…and now all of a sudden it's ankle injuries.

“Really, I don’t think you can legislate for it. I can't even blame the surface because it was fantastic to play on.

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“I'm keeping my fingers crossed it's not a bad one. Jack just said it's sore, and there's a bit of swelling on it.

“It’s hard to know the full extent until we see how it is [today] and we'll make a decision whether he needs a scan.”

Simpson will also further monitor Corey Whelan after admitting he should not have risked the defender from the start at Barrow.

The Blues boss had planned to give Ben Barclay an outing but the defender, just back from an ankle injury, injured the same ankle again in training on Monday.

Whelan was substituted at half-time in Tuesday's 2-0 defeat in south Cumbria. “He was sore and it was stiff,” Simpson said.

“I made a mistake there - shouldn’t have played him.

“But you have this criteria you have to fill to put a team out [in Trophy games] – who played on Saturday, who's going to play at the weekend, are they from a Category One academy, all sorts of things.

“With Nic Bollado, I made a decision he was going to play, and I didn’t want to bring another younger player into it which would have meant Ryan Carr and shuffling it around.

“I made a decision. Corey said he wanted to play, but I should have been strong enough to say, ‘No, you're not going to’. I should have left him out but I’ve got to live with that now.”

Barclay, meanwhile, is undergoing a scan after he went down in training.

It came just as the defender returned to contention having been out since August.

Ben Barclay (Image: Barbara Abbott)

“I don't honestly believe it's as bad as last time; it certainly didn't seem that way,” Simpson said.

The United manager also decided against involving Tobi Sho-Silva at Holker Street, having given some consideration to a role for the striker on his return from injury.

“I spoke to Tobi to see where his head was at, and he wasn’t confident to be involved in the game,” United’s boss said.

“We're not going to take chances. He's been out for a long time. It was my head going a bit too far ahead of myself on that one [by saying he might be involved].

“I didn’t put any pressure on him. He just didn’t feel mentally ready to come into a game. It's important when he's been out for so long to come back when the time is right for him.”

Simpson hopes to have Kristian Dennis and Fin Back back available for Saturday’s league clash with Leyton Orient.

Both players have missed the last two games with hamstring problems.

“This week is about getting them to above 90 per cent with their high speed, which I believe they've done today training back at the club,” Simpson said.

*A date has been confirmed for United's FA Youth Cup first round tie against Fleetwood Town.

Mark Birch's young Blues will be in action at Brunton Park on Tuesday, November 1 with a 7pm kick-off.