Brisbane Road manager discusses illness in the camp, fitness of his skipper and who should return for the weekend

Leyton Orient boss Andy Hessenthaler has revealed captain Robbie Weir could miss their League Two opener at Cheltenham Town.

The O’s skipper has caught the eye this pre-season and delivered a number of impressive performances.

But the Northern Irish midfielder picked up a knee problem at Dagenham & Redbridge last week.

In addition to the injury, he suffered with illness prior to the Gillingham friendly and wasn’t included in the squad.

Orient make the trip to Whaddon Road on Saturday, but may have to kick-off their new campaign without the skipper.

“Robbie has got the sickness, but he also has a slight knee problem and out of all of them he is definitely a major doubt for the weekend,” said Hessenthaler.

“We’ll see how he develops with the knee and the illness by the middle of the week, but out of all of them he is the major doubt.”

Liam Kelly, Sean Clohessy and Callum Kennedy were the three other first team players to miss out against the Gills.

The trio were ill and although Hessenthaler was concerned about their health, he expects them to recover in time for the Cheltenham trip.

He added: “Fingers crossed Sean, Callum and Liam are available for the weekend because we need everybody available.

“Sean felt a lot better on Saturday and is a very fit boy anyway so I don’t see him missing quite a bit of training being a problem.

“Liam is the same so I don’t envisage them having any problems and Callum is a very fit boy too.”

All three are expected to be in Hessenthaler’s starting team at Whaddon Road if they can prove their fitness this week.

It was expected Nicky Hunt and Aron Pollock wouldn’t be available to face the Robins, but the Orient manager hinted after the abandoned clash with Gillingham that they could return.

Hunt has been suffering with an ankle problem while Pollock has been troubled by tendonitis over recent months.

Both played 45 minutes at Greenwich Borough last night to boost the O’s options in the centre of defence.