Maidenhead (a)

[Tony]

I agree it's a difficult one for the club if a player is in rehab or doing light training with a view to be ready for selection in a week or two. All players will at some point say they are fit even when they know they are carrying a niggle ( and some the other way round of course). In Ince's case, I think he was genuinely close to fitness at the start of the season, played a few minutes in a couple of games, then broke down again; came back and was in the starting line up for the Trophy game v Leatherhead, only to pull out in the warm up.Not been seen since although Dowse did mention in one of his interviews that he was a couple of weeks away. I can only guess that ahead of the Leatherhead game the manager had seen enough in training to suggest that he wasn't injured in the sense he could not play at all. There must be sufficient evidence now that the club could invoke the termination clause if they wanted to (five months without selection) but if he has been training on a semi- regular basis then it might be hard to force the issue. Much now will depend whether his contract expires or not at the end of the season.

[Lord Elpus]

I agree it's a difficult one for the club if a player is in rehab or doing light training with a view to be ready for selection in a week or two. All payers will at some point say they are fit even when they know they are carrying a niggle ( and some the other way round of course). In Ince's case, I think he was genuinely close to fitness at the start of the season, played a few minutes in a couple of games, then broke down again; came back and was in the starting line up for the Trophy game v Leatherhead, only to pull out in the warm up.Not been seen since although Dowse did mention in one of his interviews that he was a couple of weeks away. I can only guess that ahead of the Leatherhead game the manager had seen enough in training to suggest that he wasn't injured in the sense he could not play at all. There must be sufficient evidence now that the club could invoke the termination clause if they wanted to (five months without selection) but if he has been training on a semi- regular basis then it might be hard to force the issue. Much now will depend whether his contract expires or not at the end of the season.

Whatever the reason, I really hope we've learned a lot from it and don't ever take such a risk again.

[Tony]

The obvious solution is to pay as you play or paying for an independent physical but Ince might not have wanted that. I think that the plan was never for him to be a regular starter as with Grego-Cox, but to play enough games to have a positive influence on results. Grego-Cox is our leading goalscorer so I guess has justified his signing but 10 or so goals a season is probably his max if he can't play more minutes across the whole season.