ALTRINCHAM are anxiously waiting to discover whether Joe Mwasile will be able to play for them again after the on-loan Morecambe winger suffered a groin injury in the opening minutes of Tuesday night’s Cheshire Senior Cup quarter-final win over Stalybridge Celtic.

Mwasile returned to the Glove Arena on Wednesday to be examined by Morecambe’s medical staff, amid concerns he may struggle to regain fitness before his loan spell expires towards the end of this month.

The setback rules him out of Saturday’s trip to Brackley and comes just days after he underlined his match winning potential with a superbly-taken goal against Workington last Saturday.

“He tweaked his groin, and though he thought it was innocuous to begin with, it has given him a problem,” said manager Lee Sinnott, after a 2-1 win set up a last-four showdown with Macclesfield or Northwich.

“It’s too early to say how long he might be out, but he has gone back to Morecambe to have the injury assessed.

“We should know more after that, but it is a shame, because Joe is an instinctive player, and I thought he was showing signs of that on Saturday. I still felt there were a lot of plusses against Stalybridge. There were four or five young lads in the team who all pushed their claims, and the first-team squad members who played will all have benefitted from 90 minutes under their belts.

“I thought Josh Samberg looked confident in goal, David Brown I hardly noticed at right-back – which is a compliment, because it shows how steady he was – Derek Ubah grew into the game and the same applied to Rob Gilroy and Max Pouncey.

“Errors were made, as you would expect when tiredness creeps in, but I was pleased with what I saw overall.”

Alty face a test of their promotion credentials at Brackley but expect in-form winger Nicky Clee to be fit and are buoyed by three straight wins, in league and cup, since returning from a weather-enforced lay-off.

“There are massive games coming up, and this is certainly one,” added Sinnott.

“We had a bad day there in the play-off semi-final return leg last season, but don’t forget we went there in the league and won 1-0. You have to be tough physically and mentally at Brackley, and we were that day. It will require more of the same on Saturday.”