Ward will send Clucas to see a specialist on Thursday fearing that the midfielder has a âmajor problemâ with his knee. Clucas returned from international duty with the Northern Ireland Under-21 international side last week with what was thought to be a minor problem, but it has since transpired that the midfielder could have suffered ligament damage. Ward described the turn of events as âa massive setbackâ for a player who has only recently returned from a knee-injury enforced seven-month absence after limping out of a game at Morecambe in February last season. Clucas has managed seven appearances since his return in September and is the latest in a catalogue of recent injuries that has stretched Wardâs playing resources to the limit. Ward said: âSeanan has a major problem with his knee. We think there may be ligament damage or a cartilage problem and heâll have to see a specialist on Thursday. We donât know the full extent of the problem yet, but I spoke to Seanan about it on the phone a couple of times after we found out about it earlier this week. I can tell you he is extremely upset about it, but, that said, Seanan picked himself up off the floor and came on the bus to support the boys at Cheltenham on Tuesday night. It is a massive blow for the lad himself and certainly a setback for us as a group because we felt Seanan was just starting to grow in terms of his strength and fitness following a long spell out injured.â Ollie Clarke, Ryan Brunt, Alefe Santos, Mark McChrystal, Garry Kenneth, Jim Paterson and Fabian Broghammer were also unavailable to Ward for the 0-0 draw against Cheltenham Town at Whaddon Road on Tuesday night because of injury. Ward added: âSeanan suffered his latest problem while he was away on international duty so there is no common denominator for these injuries we are having. I have looked in to all of that because I can imagine supporters are scratching their heads and asking themselves why we are having all these problems.â Taken from the post!
