Darren Pratley’s shoulder injury couldn’t come at a worse time for the midfielder, as he’ll miss out on the opportunity to face his former club on Saturday.
Not only that, but he was unable to begin his international career last night, as he called up for the Jamaican squad to face Nigeria last night.
The midfielder disrupted his AC joint at the end of last month during the 4-1 home win against Preston.
He will miss 10 weeks of action and is looking at a return in mid-April.
Pratley won’t be out there on the pitch to help his team-mates to victory but he is still confident of another cup win, he told the Evening Post:
| ‘The way we are playing, there is no reason why we can’t a result,’ ‘It’s easy for teams to say they know the plan and how they will stop you, but when we are moving the ball so well and keeping it, it is not easy to play against. ‘Both clubs are pretty similar in a way. Both teams want to play football and they are community clubs ? everyone knows everyone. ‘I am grateful to Fulham for giving me the chance to get reserve football under my belt. It did me a lot of good. ‘But I thought I was good enough to be playing Championship football regularly and I was proved right. ‘It’s been going very well for me here and the whole club is moving in the right direction. ‘Hopefully we can take another step by making the next round of the cup.’ ‘Fulham have players like Andy Johnson, who is a proven scorer, and (Bobby) Zamora. ‘I would put Jason Scotland up there with them. With the way we play he really suits the team. You could say all these big names cost £8million or more, but if you gave me a choice I’d have Jason. ‘He is on fire at the moment and he’s proved that you don’t need to spend a lot of money to get a class player.’ ‘I have a sling to protect my arm, but I feel more comfortable without it,’ ‘It aches a little, but I have good movement in it. ‘(Physio) Ailsa Jones is working me hard every day on the bike ? that’s what I can do so far. ‘I could return in mid-April possibly. I haven’t looked at the fixtures yet so I don’t know exactly who I’ll miss out on, but it is likely to be just before the play-offs start. ‘It would be great to be part of that. There is no reason why we can’t be.’ |
Despite not having the best of starts last season, when he received some criticism from the fans, Pratley has developed into one of our most important players at the club.
He now seems like a bargain buy from Fulham, spending just £100,000 on the youngster.
His energy and drive has been superb and he’s usually right in the heart of everything we do on the pitch.
