BRIAN Flynn will have no qualms in starting Iain Hume against Shrewsbury Town tonight should Billy Paynter be ruled out.
Paynter – who netted in the 1-1 draw with Yeovil on Saturday – was withdrawn late on at the weekend after suffering a thigh strain.
And should the striker fail in his race against time to be fit for tonight, Flynn is likely to select Hume, who himself has just returned from injury.
The Canada international played the last 20 minutes against Yeovil after missing the previous two weeks.
Flynn said: “Billy Paynter has got a slight strain in his quad muscle but he’s made great progress.
“We’ll leave the decision on Billy as late as we possibly can. He seems quite positive and confident that he will recover.
“Iain trained again yesterday and I wouldn’t be afraid to start with him at this stage.
“Once you get into games the adrenaline is pumping and that can ease certain things. He’s a fit individual anyway and he knows how to cope.”
Another striker, Chris Brown, is currently well ahead of schedule in his recovery from a knee ligament injury.
Brown was due to be out for up to two months after suffering the injury in the defeat to Walsall.
But he could be set to return to full training next week, such is the progress he has made.
Flynn admits he would likely name the same starting XI from Saturday for tonight’s clash if he had the same personnel available.
He said: “I don’t like to change things after such a good performance in the previous game.
“The biggest thing we got out of Saturday was the performance against a really good side.
“We maintained a degree of momentum in the first half and built on that in the second half.
“Things returned that had been missing over the previous few weeks.
“We stringed together some great one and two touch football, particularly in the second half, and the opposition struggles to live with that.
“Shrewsbury have had some great results recently so it’ll be a tough one for us.”
David Syers will be pushing for a start after returning off the bench from injury on Saturday.
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