Boss will give his skipper time to prove he is free of groin strain.

George Ray is hoping to take part in training this morning and if he comes through unscathed will declare himself available to face Colchester United this weekend. Ray was forced off after 20 minutes with a groin strain against Crawley on Tuesday evening and was replaced by young defender Perry Ng. The Liverpool-born Ng performed admirably alongside Ben Nugent and if Ray does not make it, David Artell says he would not hesitate to play Ng again.

David told the club’s official web-site: “George will do a bit today and we’ll see how he gets on with it. If he is fit then great, if he is not then we have others to come into the team, who are capable of doing a good job for us.

“There is no pressure from me for George to be fit but he has to be fit enough to do the job properly and we are forced into an early change again. I was rarely 100% fit when I played throughout my career and it is getting that balance right of being fit enough to play well enough.

“I thought Perry and Ben were superb for us. Perry has played a few games now for the first team and I wouldn’t hesitate in playing him again.”