The importance of defender Reda Johnson within Coventry City’s squad cannot be stressed enough. The talismanic defender plays a vital role in getting the club organised on the pitch.
In his absence, Coventry have managed just one victory in the league and this has been a major reason towards their slip down the League One table. Recognising this aspect, manager Steven Pressley admitted that Johnson could not come back to the first-team sooner.
He has also acknowledged that the 26-year-old, who was featured in only 13 matches this season, needs to come back fully fit and not rushed back from the hamstring injury that is keeping him out.
He revealed that Johnson has trained with the team yesterday and he is likely to be in contention for the trip to face Yeovil Town during the weekend. The 26-year-old has been missing from the first-team action for the last six matches.
During this period, Coventry have managed just one league victory and this came against Walsall away from home. After achieving enough victories to keep them afloat in the League One during the months of November, it has only been in the last few weeks that Coventry have been finding it difficult to keep up with the teams in the table.
“He trained yesterday, did a session with the physios on strength and conditioning this morning and is joining in the football session this afternoon, so we’ll see if he comes through that OK.
It’s a more of an 11 v 11 session which should give us a better steer as to how he is for the weekend. Medically he’s fine but he’s suffered similar injuries on a number of occasions in his career and he obviously doesn’t want to return and break down again. But the frustration from ourselves is that statistics don’t lie and we how important he is for the team,” said Pressley.