Doherty says youngsters need to feel settled (From Bucks Free Press)

Doherty says youngsters need to feel settled

3:17pm Monday 17th September 2012 in Sport By Andy Carswell

GARY Doherty thinks Wanderers' injury crisis is affecting the club's young players, who he feels need a more settled line-up each week.

The Wanderers club captain says he's never known a team suffer so many serious injuries within the first month of the season throughout a 15-year career.

Sam Wood, Marvin McCoy, Dennis Oli and Matt Bloomfield have all been ruled out for long periods, while injury and suspension to other players has meant manager Gary Waddock has only been able to field an unchanged line-up once.

And Doherty says that's to the detriment of the development of the younger players who are breaking into the first team squad.

The 32-year-old said: "What they need is a bit more of a settled team. With injuries and what have you it's changing quite a lot.

"I've never known anything like it - broken legs, medial ligaments. It sounds like excuses but I've never known a start to the season injury-wise like this.

"They're not just little injuries, they are eight weeks, ten weeks. Every time you look on Sky Sports there's an injury.

"Things aren't going for us at the moment. That happens in football but that's when you've got to be strong and get your head down, work hard in training and work harder in games and hopefully things change.

"It's up to some of the senior players to come back and get fit and start putting some results together. I think as players we need to bed down and start getting our shirts and holding onto them."

Doherty said he was impressed with what he's seen from the kids despite the setbacks put in front of them.

The former Ireland international said: "It's a tough place to learn football. League Two is very rough and tumble and you've got to be stronger and more manly, but they are doing great. They've adapted well. It's never easy to come in and be a regular in any first team at that age."

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