Eaves back 'a lot earlier' than Cobblers expected after last-minute call up to the bench
Tom Eaves’ return from injury has come ‘a lot earlier’ than Jon Brady or anyone at the Cobblers expected.
The 6ft 5in striker suffered nasty facial injuries in Town’s 2-1 defeat to Lincoln City on October 29 and had looked set for an extended spell on the sidelines.
However, after speaking with specialists, and with the injury healing quicker than anticipated, Eaves was given the green light to return to training last week, albeit as long he wore a specially designed mask.
"Tom's come back a lot earlier than what we all thought,” said Brady. “We saw a specialist who deals with international rugby players and he said Tom would be absolutely fine with the mask.
"He's only had two days training. He's done some conditioning work but he's stayed away from the ball because he can't have the ball anywhere near his face without the mask.
"It was exceptional from Tom because (James) Wilson went down injured in training on Friday and Tom was probably not going to be on the bench, but I asked him if he could play and he said 'yes, I'll play'.
"We had to practice some heading before the game and he said it felt fine and it was great to get him on.”
Aaron McGowan also returned from injury to make the bench against Cambridge, although he remained an unused substitute.
Brady added: "Aaron was only there if we really needed him. Because of the injury situation he's had to jump on the bench a week earlier than we want.”