Mark Robinson today confirmed that Ollie Palmer is facing an injury lay-off that could keep him out for five weeks.
A scan last night revealed that Ollie had suffered a grade two calf strain, ruling him out of tomorrow’s trip to Shrewsbury.
Robbo said: “Ollie had a scan last night and he’s going to be out for three to five weeks, which is a shame. Maybe Ollie should have had the scan earlier, and we chatted about that, but they all want to play for the football club in any game, so we need to look at that. Maybe we should have got him scanned earlier, but he felt it was just a tightness of his calf and it was going to disappear. It was deeper than that and he has a similar issue to Paul Kalambayi.”
Ollie fought on through the pain barrier last season to help keep us up after tearing an oblique muscle in his stomach and he had started this campaign in fine shape, scoring in the home match versus Gillingham. We wish Ollie well in his recuperation.
Robbo added that Ollie’s injury provides a real opportunity for Aaron Pressley to step up to the mark in the coming weeks. Our Head Coach is reluctant to bring back Corie Andrews and Aaron Cosgrave from their respective loan spells at Aldershot and Dover.
“It’s something that we’ve got to overcome as it’s a loss to us with the way that Ollie plays. We’ve got Aaron (Pressley), and it’s a great opportunity for him now, but we also need to look at other solutions and how we are going to maintain that threat. I don’t really want to pull the lads back from loan unless we really have to. They (Corie Andrews and Aaron Cosgrave) are both doing well. I always one eye on the future and they are both getting regular football for their development, which is key. If I have to bring them back I will, but first and foremost I’d like us to come up with solutions ourselves, which I think we are more than capable of.
“I would have liked another forward option in the window, but the money wasn’t available. That’s fine, and I know the situation that the club is in financially. We have to work with that, and it’s not a problem at all.”
Click on the link below to listen to Rob Cornell’s full interview with Robbo.