Matt Taylor has admitted that it's unlikely for Grant Ward to feature in the final two matches of Bristol Rovers' season as they look to ensure he reports for pre-season in the best possible condition after an injury-hit campaign.
There were major concerns over the weekend that the midfielder had reaggravated the hamstring injury that had kept him out for two months and that the 29-year-old was back to square one after having to come off in the first half of Rovers' 3-1 win at Cheltenham Town last Saturday. However, scan results returned the best possible outcome according to the Gas manager but he remains extremely cautious over overloading Ward with just two matches left in the season.
The midfielder has managed just 23 appearances all season, 17 of which starts, across all competitions but, when on the pitch, has consistently made an impact with his work rate up certainly up there with the best in the squad, if not the strongest. Therefore, the Gas are desperate to have Ward available for a much higher proportion of next season.
On attempting to put an end to the stop-start nature of the 29-year-old's career, Taylor said: "That’s always the aim but the stop start nature of probably his career, not just his time with Bristol Rovers so there’s probably underlying factors there. But we’ve not put him under any pressure now to save him for pre-season but that’s irrelevant if he breaks down again. So it will be all about strength building.
"We’ve spoken about how dynamic he is, how much distance he covers and how quickly he covers that and how much of a difference he makes when he’s on the pitch and he can never play with anything less than everything and a bit more. And even when he’s absolutely dead on his feet he’ll find more to give and has an incredible physical output so his game is an absolute extreme and we don’t want him to be an impact player by any means but just build and build and build.
"I think we need to get him in the gym and strength-based first and then get the fitness side of pre-season in first which always takes care of itself and then you’re praying, touch wood, that he does stay fit for longer periods next season and maybe we’ll have a strong enough squad or competition for places where he’s not just first name on the team sheet and plays 96 minutes if he’s fit.
"The amount he puts out data-wise, everyone can see it so let’s try and get the right balance but, as we’ve spoken about in the past, I don’t think anyone’s got the answers straight away. I don’t think anyone in the world would."
On the scan itself and Ward's availability for the remainder of this campaign, the Rovers manager added: "I don’t think we will [see him again this season] but that’s not a worry to the fans or anyone else. I think that’s more precautionary in terms of what happened after his return at Fleetwood and then what’s happened since on the back of Cheltenham.
"The scan was as clear or as clean as it possibly could be so that’s great news but clearly there’s just something either behind the knee of the bottom of the hamstring or in Grant himself where we just can’t shake that off and if there’s a little bit of uncertainty due to whatever reason, you have to remember what he’s been through previously, there’s no point putting him out there without that clarity in his mind going into a game."
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In regards to who will be available for this weekend's final home game of the season against Peterborough United, James Wilson could be in contention having also returned a positive hamstring scan result on the back of having to come off at Cheltenham while Tristan Crama is also available to come into central defence if needed and Jack Hunt is back after missing Tuesday night's win over Cambridge United due to a private matter.
Crama hasn't featured since the 5-0 drubbing at Lincoln City last month having picked up an ankle issue but the Brentford loanee was spotted training individually at the Mem before the 1-0 win over Cambridge although competition at the back is currently strong.
"He’s available," Taylor said on the Frenchman. "James Connolly has been around the squad of late and has obviously been on the pitch so we didn’t want too many centre-halves on the bench. It wasn’t quite the same backline as what started at Cheltenham where we probably had to go back heavy as opposed to front heavy. So he’s close, he’s in and around it, training well. But with Elkan coming back into it we’ve looked a bit stronger in that whole department, not just in terms of performance on the pitch. So we’ve got some options there."
