Brandon Njoku will miss the final two games of the season, starting with Sutton’s Enterprise National League match against Altrincham (Saturday, 18th April; 3pm KO), having begun his recovery from a torn meniscus.
The forward has enjoyed an impressive debut season at Sutton after signing from Cambridge United in the summer, scoring 15 goals in all competitions despite playing with an injury over the last 12 to 14 weeks, and has played an invaluable role in the U’s survival campaign.
However, with Sutton now safe, Chris Agutter has now opted to give the 21-year old a breather, and after being uninvolved in Sutton’s Surrey Senior Cup exit at Farnham Town on Tuesday night, the Head Coach has confirmed that his season is now over.
Danny Cashman meanwhile will face a late fitness check as he continues his search for a maiden outing in amber and chocolate, having been deemed to not be quite up to speed since signing on loan from Crawley Town last month, and as such he once again awaits the green light.
“Danny Cashman is a frustratingly an ongoing situation” said Agutter. “We felt we would get him out there two games ago but he wasn’t quite where he needed to be physically.
We’ve obviously trained today, had another look, there will be a fitness test tomorrow, and we’ll be doing everything that we can to to get him out on the pitch.”
In addition, Besart Topallaj and David Ogbonna both face respective fitness checks themselves ahead of the clash with Altrincham, with Topallaj missing out on Tuesday night’s trip to the Memorial Ground with a quad injury, while Ogbonna, who did feature in Surrey, is similarly suffering with a muscular problem.
“Bes Topallaj has a quad injury and needs a fitness test, David Ogbonna, the same, in terms of muscular injury, fatigue, obviously you’ve played a lot of games- a busy period.”
“There’s a few bumps and bruises, but, we’re we’re waiting to confirm whether or not they’re available, and as I said, we need to finish the season on the right note. There’s certainly no sitting in deck chairs and we’re done for the summer. As I said after we secured safety, it wasn’t job done. It was very much – ‘right, what’s next?'”
Finally, Agutter himself will watch on from the stands in both of the last two games, having been awarded a touchline ban following the hostilities that followed the Rochdale match at the end of March.
