Gary Simpson is crossing his fingers that he suffers no more call-offs ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup tie at Chelmsford City.
Macc go into the game in something of a slump, while the hosts have already set a club record for their 19-game unbeaten run, which only ended with a loss in the Essex Senior Cup.
And to add to Simpson’s load, he is without the banned Ross Draper and Carl Tremarco, while a handful more are set to sit out the match.
"I can’t see Lewis Chalmers being fit," he said resignedly. "And Scotty Kay is doing a bit of running but he’s unlikely to play at Chelmsford. Paul Morgan turned up for training on Tuesday and he was sick in the sink so we sent him straight home.
"Hammy (Matty Hamshaw) took a knock in trainng but he should be OK, but we’ve still got Ben Tomlinson out, so we’ll go down and do the best we can."
The manager is under no illusions – their hosts are in an unprecedented run of form and he’ll read very little into their defeat against Concord Rangers on Monday.
"I don’t think they played their first-choice team in that one," he added. "I saw them after the Barnet game and their wingers are both very decent players, they’ve got good quality in the midfield and a lively forward.
"They’re experienced and very solid at the back, the right-back can throw it about a mile, their left back strikes a ball well, he’s got quality about him too.
"Chelmsford have found the art of winning, they’re flying, they have a fantastic work ethic and spirit within the squad.
"I’ve seen a fair few Conference games and these are about as good as anyone I’ve watched.
"We’ve hit a bit of an injury block and one or two have lost a bit of form, there’s no doubt about that but we want to go as far as we can in this competition.
"We’ve got to go there and try to be professional and I’m sure we’ll have to try to hang on in there at certain points.
"We’ve got Vinny Mukendi and Arnaud Mendy available and they’ll play in our game on Wednesday nioght to get some stiffness out of their legs."
