Injury blocks Hartson recall
John Toshack admits John Hartson was not fit enough for a recall to the Wales squad.
John Toshack admits John Hartson was not fit enough for a recall to the Wales squad.
The West Brom striker had been in contention to be drafted into the setup for Wednesday's Euro 2008 qualifier with Cyprus, following Saturday's debacle against Slovakia.
But Hartson is struggling with an ankle injury, leaving Wales coach Toshack to opt against gambling on the 31-year-old's fitness.
"I saw John Hartson last weekend in the game against Leeds," Toshack told Sky Sports News. "He played the first half and came off at half time.
"He was still not too happy about an ankle injury he's carried.
"He has only had 45 minutes in the last four weeks and I spoke to him on Sunday, as I said I would, and he feels his fitness is not as it should be for that game.
"I'm not surprised because, after seeing him, I wasn't too sure about his fitness level either, and that just confirmed that.
"He needs a little more time."
Toshack is considering making changes for the match with Cyprus, with goalkeeper Paul Jones' place under threat after his howler in the 5-1 defeat to Slovakia.
"We've a few things to think about after Saturday and before Wednesday," admitted Toshack.
"We'd worked on lots of things last week in training and some of it went very well, as daft as it might sound after that scoreline.
"Other individual mistakes proved costly. We shall have to wait and see (about Jones). We have a little more time before kick-off."
The former Wales international also insists his enthusiasm for the job has not been eroded, despite the thrashing at the weekend.
He added: "I'm enjoying it, I enjoy all the jobs I'm in. I find them interesting.
"I knew the difficulties would be there when I came into it.
"The thing that tells me I'm enjoying it is I have felt very hurt and in a lot of pain over the last couple of days and that tells me, in a strange sort of way, that I'm still enjoying it, because the day something like that happens and I don't feel my pride being hurt will be the time to finish."
