Talented youngster out for weeks rather than the feared months.
Crewe Alexandra have received a welcome boost over the injury to defender Luke Offord. The young defender suffered a hamstring injury just before half time against Bristol Rovers on Tuesday evening and had to be replaced by Travis Johnson.
Crewe went on to win the game 3-2, but were left to rue the cost of losing Offord and left-back Harry Pickering to injury in the same game. Rio Adebisi replaced the new club captain.
David Artell has explained to crewealex.net that Offord’s injury is thankfully not as bad as first feared. The versatile defender has suffered a grade 1 hamstring tear and that is considerably better than the hamstring injuries suffered by Donervon Daniels and Callum Ainley. Both of those players suffered a Grade 3 tear, ruling them out for months rather than weeks.
The Alex boss told us: “Luke has a Grade 1 hamstring tear and that is far better than we expected. We thought it was going to be bad one but thankfully is it not as serious as the hamstring injuries suffered by Donervon or Callum. It is nowhere near as bad, so that is a real positive.
“There was a touch of cramp in there as well and I have to take responsibility for that. I could kick myself really and hindsight is a beautiful thing but Luke has played a lot of games over a short period of time and probably needed a rest. That is why we left him out of the Papa John’s Trophy games because his body is still developing.
“He has such an old head and young shoulders that you forget how young he still is. He played 10/15 games last season and then has hardly missed one this season, so the warning signs were there and it is something I have to learn from. Looking back he has played a large amount of games for his age and he needed a break.”
It is also encouraging news of new captain Pickering. He suffered a back spasm in the 3-2 win over Bristol Rovers and had to be replaced by Rio Adebisi. The club are hopeful that the back injury will settle down and he could make himself available for selection for the visit of AFC Wimbledon tomorrow.