Skubala Hails Impact of Mandroiu and Moylan ahead of Oxford Trip
Michael Skubala has hailed the impact of Danny Mandroiu and Jack Moylan, with both playing out of their regular positions over the past few weeks.
Michael Skubala has hailed the impact of Danny Mandroiu and Jack Moylan ahead of our trip to Oxford, with both players excelling out of their regular positions over the past few weeks.
City have suffered injury problems throughout the 2023/24 season. The start of the campaign saw a lack of attackers available, with big names such as Ben House, Tyler Walker and Reeco Hackett all missing a crucial and busy period of the season. The latter stage of the campaign has seen City struggle in the midfield areas. Ethan Hamilton was ruled out for the season back in February, and January recruit Conor McGrandles was similarly ruled out for the rest of the campaign just a few weeks later.
Ethan Erhahon has been a mainstay in Skubala’s side, along with our only other recognised midfielder, Ted Bishop. Skubala confirmed pre-match that Bishop would miss the game due to injury.
“Ted Bishop is still struggling. We think he’s a little bit further away than this one. He won’t be back for tomorrow.”
Injuries always bring opportunities to other players, and recently we’ve seen those opportunities handed to Mandroiu and January signing Moylan. Both players are traditionally not midfielders, but they’ve thrived in the middle of the park and played a big part in City’s push towards the playoffs.
When asked by BBC Radio Lincolnshire’s Rob Makepeace about the duo, Skubala said: “It was strikers and now I think you can see that we’re hit with midfielders. We wanted have Ethan Hamilton and Conor McGrandles as part of that group.
“We’ve had to put players in there that have stepped up really well. They’ve [Danny Mandroiu and Jack Moylan] never played in there. They’ve had some great performances over the course. So it does show you that you can do it.”
Skubala went on to speak about the ambition to win at Oxford on Tuesday to keep the playoff hopes alive and hopes that his team can go into the game at the Kassam Stadium with plenty of freedom.
“They’ve got everything to lose, so we can have a little bit of freedom. We’ve got to take it as an another game and if we can get three points, who knows what can happen in the next few games. It’s going to be difficult. Oxford are in the driving seat, but if we get a result there and get three points then you never know and we can take it to the last few games of the season.”
