ANDY GRAHAM has confirmed the injury to Kurtis Roberts is worse than initially suspected, with the midfielder expected to be out for the foreseeable future.
It was initially reported that Roberts had been struggling with a hernia but was managing to play through the pain barrier.
However, his absence during Alloa’s visit to Arbroath sparked one fan to ask the manager what the latest was.
Graham addressed injury concerns during the Alloa Athletic Season Ticket Holder Q&A session, with bad news for last year’s Player of the Season.
Graham said: “Kurtis is a bit more serious than what we’d hoped which is a blow for Kurtis and a blow for the team, he’s been absolutely fantastic for us.
“Kurtis has been playing with this for quite a while now and we’re seeing it that we’ve had to take him off and he’s been very sore after games.
“It’s at the point now where we want to make sure he’s fully fit – if that means he’s back in November or December, I would rather have a 100 per cent fit Kurtis Roberts than a 70 per cent one playing through the full season.”
Further scans from the club has shown that Roberts is not battling a hernia, with his injury looking more like osteitis pubis.
This is an inflammation of the pubis symphysis which can cause varying degrees of lower abdominal and pelvic pain.
Graham went on: “We thought he had a sports hernia but it’s probably looking like more like osteitis pubis so with that, we need to let the whole area settle down in terms of swelling.
“It’s not got a lot of blood flow to the area which is part of the problem – we got him a scan which was great because that’s got to the bottom of the issue.
“It wasn’t sustainable Kurtis continuing to play 60, 70 minutes and then waking up a Sunday and struggling to walk.
“Fair play to him because he’s played through that for a good number of weeks now but from my perspective, we need him fully fit and that’s what we’ll look to do over the next wee while.
“That’s an area of the pitch we’re quite strong in at the moment.
In Roberts’ absence, the middle of the pitch will expected to be filled by Steven Hetherington and Miko Virtanen, with the latter coming into the starting XI last Saturday against Arbroath.
In addition, Graham can call upon Stefan Scougall to play a bit deeper in midfield or bring in Reece Mullen, who impressed during Alloa’s pre-season campaign in his first season being around the first team.
Outwith Roberts, Graham also addressed injury concerns to David Devine, Luke Rankin and Scougall.
Devine has been missing since the start of the season, going off injured in the last minute of Alloa’s opening match against East Fife.
Rankin, meanwhile, got injured during training before the Stenhousemuir game, while Scougall picked up a slight knock against Arbroath.
“David Devine is back,” Graham said. “He’ll do a full training session tonight which is good for him a bit ahead of schedule as well.
“Luke Rankin is maybe one, two weeks away – it’s a hard one because it’s his ankle so we had to wait for the swelling to come down.
“There was no break, no rupture to the ligaments so it’s nothing long term or serious but Luke’s a young player so we need to make sure we’re getting it right.
“We don’t want it to then be a recurring injury so I would rather take the time and make sure we get Luke Rankin firing and fit than take a chance on him a week early or two weeks early and then he breaks down and hinder him for the rest of his career.
“For the injuries, I’m always looking at it from that perspective – you need to take the players into consideration.
Scouggs will be fine, he’s just got a wee problem with his hamstring tendon but it’s nothing we’re overly concerned about.”
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