With Saints' opener against Derby on Sunday, Burley was desperate to give the talented midfielder a runout for the reserves against Woking tonight. Although as a Czech he is an EU citizen and does not require a work permit, Saints still require his international clearance to come through. Red tape has prevented this from happening today, reducing his chances of starting against Derby on Sunday.
Even if he could have played at Woking, we should still not expect too much of him at this stage with so little training behind him. It will take several weeks to get him back to his very best and we will need to be patient with him.
However, Danny Higginbotham is set to play against Woking and is being given a taste of life on the transfer list playing alongside the youngsters, although there is also match practice for Bradley Wright-Phillips and Kenwyne Jones who joined pre-season later after world cup duty.
The match kicks off at 7.45pm in Kingfield with tickets a steep £10 considering it is the reserves.