Cassidy ‘gutted’ at injury

Photo: PICTURE by ALAN HOWARTH.

BREAKING POINT . . Athletic forward Jake Cassidy is attended to by physio Craig Schofield.

ATHLETIC have suffered a significant injury blow with Jake Cassidy suffering a cracked ankle bone.

The former Wolves striker, who has already impressed with his hard-running style, went down in pain in the clash against Fleetwood and was substituted for Rhys Turner after only 13 minutes.

The extent of the injury isn’t yet known, but Cassidy tweeted on Saturday evening that he was “absolutely gutted”, and it seems likely he will be absent for some time - leaving a large hole in the plans of manager Darren Kelly.

Turner did a manful job leading the line as his replacement in the 1-0 win over Fleetwood and the Athletic boss — who didn’t see how the injury occurred — is confident he can cover the forward’s absence.

“I looked down and saw Jake was on the sidelines. He’s a big player for us and the last couple of games, he has been excellent for the team as well. But we have quality to come into the team. There is strength in depth here. We’ll see how it goes with Jake.”

One player who could step in at Colchester tomorrow is Jonathan Forte. Last season’s top scorer was again on the substitutes’ bench for Fleetwood.

“We are building up Jonathan Forte as he missed a few weeks of pre-season,” Kelly added. “Now we look forward to Colchester and we will see how he is.”

Right-back Connor Brown also limped off towards the end of a fraught victory over the Cod Army — Athletic’s first of the season, which put the club in sixth place in the early league table.

Brian Wilson missed the game with a groin problem and Kelly explained that the absence of Gavin Gunning on the substitutes’ bench was purely for tactical reasons.

“It is a selection thing,” he said, in reference to Gunning who is only with Athletic on a short-term deal.

“Brian Wilson was out and with Timothee Dieng on the bench he could offer that little bit of support at right-back or centre-back.”

twitter: @Matt_Chambers_