Jord On The Mend

JORDON Forster's injury may not be as bad as first feared, says Argyle boss Derek Adams.

The Argyle defender injured himself at Barnet on Tuesday night when he slid into the advertising hoardings that outline the pitch at The Hive, but he has not broken his jaw, says Derek, which is good news. The manager is hopeful that his fellow Scot will be back in action by the end of the month.

"We are just waiting on the scan results to be looked at," Derek said. "We will assess them with the physio. He does not have a broken jaw.

"The situation is we are just waiting to get the consultant's report and take things from there, I am hopeful he will be back. I think he will be back this month.

"It could have been [a lot worse], he did slide across the surface very quickly and at full impact into the boardings. He will probably go back to Hibs for a week or so just to see their medical staff then he will come back here when he is close to fitness."

Ryan Brunt also picked up an injury on Tuesday night, and Derek is awaiting the results of a scan to know the full extent of the injury. It is feared to be a cruciate ligament injury on his left leg.

"He has had a scan Wednesday night," said Derek, "so we will wait for that. He will go to see a consultant on Monday and see what the extent of the injury is. The player thinks it is a cruciate, so we will wait and see what the outcome on that is.

"He just went to kick the ball and his leg was caught underneath him, and there is nothing you can do. I'm hopeful it is not as serious as he fears, but he has had an injury like that before, in his right leg. This one is his left."

Cruciate ligaments are not unknown at Home Park become common ground in modern football, with former Argyle players such as Matt Lecointe and Paul Wotton suffering from them, whilst Deane Smalley missed almost a year of action. 
 
"The thing about them is you recover," said Derek, "and sometimes the knee becomes stronger because of that. You are out for a longer period of time. I would think he would be back within nine months.

"Until we get the results and find out if it is a cruciate or what it is then we are only talking on hearsay. We don't have a definitive answer until Monday.

"He has done very well, he has scored a lot of goals, he has worked hard for us. He is going to be a big miss."

Derek says that his players will have to put their teammates injuries out of their minds and focus on the task in hand. 

"You have to," Derek said. "It is difficult when you see your team mate has gone down injured. We have got a group of players that are very good mentally, but you have to put that to one side. Look after them yes, but we have got a job to do as well."

Carl McHugh and Tyler Harvey will be assessed before Saturday, whilst Kelvin Mellor is expected to be ready for the game.

"We are still assessing Carl," said Derek. "He has not trained this week, but we are still assessing.

"Tyler will train. He has trained the last couple of days so we will just assess him as well.

"Kelvin was a wee bit stiff [after Tuesday], but he should be fine for Saturday."