Forest Green Rovers v Harrogate Town: No real progress on injury front for Sulphurites

With Mark Oxley, Ryan Fallowfield, Lewis Page, Josh Falkingham, Will Smith, Calum Kavanagh, Lloyd Kerry, Brahima Diarra and Lewis Richards all currently sidelined, the Sulphurites head into their penultimate fixture of the campaign minus the services of nine first-team players.

It was thought that veteran midfielder Kerry, who is retiring at the end of the season, might have had a chance of featuring against Carlisle United last weekend, but his hip problem flared up once again as soon as he attempted to start running, ruling him out of that game and this Saturday’s.

“This weekend is going to be too soon for Lloyd, I’m afraid,” Town boss Simon Weaver revealed to the Harrogate Advertiser.

“He started his running again on Tuesday, so that’s promising, but I very much doubt he will be ready for Forest Green.

“I don’t think any of the lads we have injured at the moment who aren’t already ruled out for the season have a chance. We will travel down there with the same squad that played Carlisle.

“Lloyd could possibly be back for the final game of the season. He was actually doing his running the other day with Josh Falkingham, so they might both be in with a shout for Sutton, but we will have to see.”

The news regarding on-loan Middlesbrough striker Calum Kavanagh, who Weaver felt was lucky to avoid breaking his leg following a dreadful challenge by Salford City’s Jason Lowe earlier this month, was however less positive.

“Calum looks an outside bet to play again this season,” the Harrogate chief added.

“He’s been back with Middlesbrough and they’re looking after him. There was a lot of swelling and he’s still got that soft-tissue damage because he was on the receiving end of a shocking tackle.”

So rotten has Town’s luck been when it has come to injuries in recent weeks, Weaver admitted after last Saturday’s 3-0 home success over Carlisle United that the most satisfying aspect of the afternoon was the fact that his team made it through 90 minutes without seeing anybody else get crocked.

“The most satisfactory thing out of the game was not picking up another injury. I can’t believe we haven’t brought the stretcher out,” he said.

“It is a relief. Every time someone is going down in training or in a game, I’m worried sick.

“It has taken its toll on me as well as the lads because I’ve got players going home on crutches. Obviously I have no bearing on the injuries, but we care about everyone in the building and you don’t want to see them like that. It makes you feel guilty.”

Victory over Carlisle saw Town end a run of four consecutive defeats and come out on top for just the second time in 13 attempts.

That result took their points tally for the season to 50 and lifted them one place to 19th in the table. By contrast, title-chasing Forest Green have 83 points to their name, but have had a wobble in recent weeks, winning just one of their last five.