RICKY Shakes’ imminent international commitments will not rob Iffy Onuora of the midfielder’s services at Nottingham Forest on Saturday, much to the manager’s delight.
There had been some doubt whether the 21-year-old would be required to join up with the Trinidad and Tobago squad ahead of Town’s trip to the City Ground but Shakes will be on the bus heading north.
With numerous other midfielders struggling with injury, causing the manager to ponder an emergency loan, the last thing he wanted was to lose another body.
He said: “Ricky will be available for the Nottingham Forest game as the Trinidad players will not meet up until Sunday.
“As a manager you obviously want all your options to choose from.
“It’s obviously an exciting opportunity for Ricky but my first concern is preparations for another very important league game.”
Shakes himself insists there will be no question of the Forest game being seen as an appetiser to his main event.
He knows it is league performances which have earned him the call from Trinidad and Tobago coach Leo Beenhakker for Tuesday’s clash with Iceland and it is maintaining high standards at that level which concerns him.
Shakes said: “My first priority is helping the team to beat Nottingham Forest.
“That’s all that matters to me at the moment and I’d have been very disappointed if I hadn’t been able to play on the Saturday.
“Hopefully we will get the right result and that will set me up to report with Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday.”
Shakes is looking for an improved individual and team performance at the City Ground and has hailed his manager’s constructive approach to assessing what went wrong in Town’s last outing.
As well as having viewed the Rotherham match, Shakes and company also took in the win over Gillingham.
He said: “It was good to be able to see what we’d done right against Gillingham and then to see where it hadn’t gone so well in the next game.
“You are always looking to improve.
“As a player there will be matches where you don’t always play well.
“You have to learn from those games but try to focus on the positive things.”