Buckle confirms injury worry ahead of Southport test

The manager was understandably coy about who the concerns were over, with the situation reminiscent of the build up to last Friday night’s game at Grimsby Town, when Hatters were ultimately able to name an unchanged side.

Buckle said: “We might have one and last time we had one, but Ronnie (Henry) came back.

“We have picked up another one and that seems to be life at the moment. We move on, if the lad makes it on Saturday great and if he doesn’t then we will have some cover.”

Midfielder Yaser Kasim is pushing for his first start since the 1-0 defeat to AFC Telford on August 25 after a goalscoring display during the midweek win against Tamworth.

The on-loan Brighton midfielder has looked bright coming off the bench recently and Buckle, who asked for an improvement in his approach to training, has already seen the difference.

He said: “Yas played an important role when he came on and he’ll have a strong chance of being involved on Saturday.

“I’m not after Yaser to be running around and getting stuck in, but he’s got to do a certain amount of that.

“I spoke with him for over an hour and we had quite a frank discussion. A discussion whereby he’s come here to play and I want him to play.

“I think the other night, in the short time he was on, he’ll be remembered for his goal and wonderful touches on the ball. But he didn’t look like he was going to let us down on the other side of it.

“That’s all I’m after, it’s not a lot to ask for and he knows that now. As a midfield player these days you’ve got to tick all the boxes.

“I don’t think it’s a game now where you can say I score goals but I don’t defend or I like to go and get the ball from the back four but can’t be trusted to go with the runners.

“It’s about working hard throughout the game, working hard with the ball and without the ball.”

Striker Stuart Fleetwood is also in with a shout of a recall after scoring his eighth goal of the campaign when coming off the bench at Tamworth.

Buckle continued: “We’ve got a lot of quality rather than quantity and I thought Stuart looked really bright when he came on, he looked electric.

“He can finish, there’s no doubt about it, when he gets in front of goal, he knows where the goal is.”

The game will also reunite Town with former midfielder Godfrey Poku, who opted to join Mansfield Town during the summer and has since been loaned back to Port without making an appearance for the Stags.

Buckle added: “We all know all about Godders, what a smashing kid he is.

“We didn’t want him to leave, that was Godders choice. He chose to go to Mansfield, I’m not sure what’s gone on since and he’s come to try and upset things this time at Kenilworth Road.

“We don’t want to be allowing him to do that, we want to be concentrating on ourselves and try and put on a really good show.”

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