Millwall boss gives more detail on Lee Gregory’s injury – and talks about recall possibility for Portsmouth and Wycombe loanees
BY RICHARD CAWLEY
Millwall manager Neil Harris is set to get more detail today on the injuries to Aiden O’Brien and Shaun Williams – with Lee Gregory’s stomach muscle tear also making it hard to pin down his comeback date.
The Lions have a mounting injury list. O’Brien was stretchered off in Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Bristol City with Williams suffering ankle ligament damage.
August signing Tom Bradshaw is out for the season following knee surgery. Tom Elliott was missing at Ashton Gate with a hamstring strain – the same muscle injury also forcing club captain Steve Morison off.
The only boost at this stage of the week is that club record signing Ryan Leonard is back from serving a one-game ban for his red card against Birmingham a week ago.
“We’ll have a much clearer picture when both players have been scanned,” said Harris. “By tomorrow afternoon [Tuesday] we’ll know if there is any damage, or the extent of the damage.
“Tom’s is a hamstring, so you are looking at a period of time. Lee is a tricky one because he has got a small tear deep in his stomach muscle. We know what the damage is but we can’t really treat it because of the area it is in.
“We can’t really rehab it, just because it is in an area where it has to heal itself over time. It really is trial and error with Lee, when he feels comfortable being out on the pitch.
“The gambles is can he make it for this weekend? It is such a bizarre injury. Is it likely to re-tear? Quite unlikely, but we have just got to be mindful of that.
“We could see Lee in a week or we could see him in three weeks. We’re a little bit in the lap of the gods and how quick it heals.
“Moro’s is an old injury. At his age he knows his body well. It is routine but if he presents Tuesday still with a problem then we’ll have to re-scan it.
“He shouldn’t have really played but he put himself forward because that is what he does and he’s captain of the team. Whether we’ll get him back out Saturday, we’ll have to see.
“I thought his performance – his battling quality at the weekend – was outstanding. You could see in the second half he was struggling with movement out there. The fact he still assisted for the goal was classic Steve Morison.”
Harris is not making any early calls on whether he will recall Fred Onyedinma from his loan at Wycombe Wanderers – the youngster would boost his frontline options – in the January transfer window.
“It’s still early days as we’re finding at the moment,” said the Millwall chief. “There is no point planning for tomorrow. We’ve literally got to go day by day and game by game.
“Yes, we have had thought processes and ideas. The boys out on loan – Tom [King], Sid [Nelson], Ben [Thompson] and Fred – there is an opportunity for us to call them back in January.
“But I will only call them back if I feel like they will be involved in our squad and have an opportunity to play.”