Rest will benefit Town's Alex Smithies

May 25 2009 by Dougie Thomson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

LEE CLARK believes missing out on the immediate chance of further England Under 19 caps could be a blessing in disguise for Alex Smithies.

Town’s teenage goalkeeping ace has been withdrawn from the squad for this week’s European Championship qualifiers in Yorkshire because of a shoulder injury.

The decision came after as assessment by FA physiotherapy staff on the problem which kept the 19-year-old out of Town’s final game of the League I campaign at Leyton Orient.

Smithies’ place in the squad for the games against Bosnia at Doncaster on Wednesday, Slovakia at Bradford on Friday and Scotland at Sheffield United a week tonight goes to Norwich’s Declan Rudd.