FROM Congo to Macclesfield in 48 hours!

A seasoned traveller like Mark Fish should make it with time to spare.

Whether he'll figure in the Worthington Cup decider is another matter.

"It's a hell of a journey," Sam Allardyce explained, hinting that he might not ask the Feeesh! to turn out at the Moss Rose on Tuesday night.

"Mark's coming straight back after the game on Sunday but what sort of state he'll be in is anybody's guess!

"He'll be back in time but I won't know whether he will be available for what is a very important game for us until I see him. If he's not injured, the travelling might take too much out of him."

South Africa's Nations Cup qualifier in Congo heralds Fish's return to the international scene, six months after announcing his retirement.

It's good news for the Rainbow Nation, who can ill afford to lose a player of his calibre and experience - especially in the inspirational form he was in at Tranmere on Monday - but it's left Allardyce sweating.

"There's a lot bigger managers than me who must dread this situation every time there are international games," he acknowledged.

"Manchester United and Liverpool will have seven or eight players at a time going away and they know full well that they'll be lucky if they get away with just one being injured."

Wanderers aren't under-estimating the threat from Peter Davenport's Macc, after finding the going tough in the first leg before Dean Holdsworth headed his late face-saver.

"Having just a one-goal advantage means they will be thinking they can get a big scalp - and rightly so considering the way they played at the Reebok. They defended extremely well."