Gillam victim of freak accident

John Gillam: operation after freak accident

JOHN Gillam, the Oldham RL winger, has had surgery on a big toe following a freak accident at home.

It happened late on Saturday night and he was in hospital yesterday while his team-mates were beating Gateshead Thunder 40-14 at Whitebank to go top of Co-operative Championship One.

Paul Ballard, a late replacement for Gillam on the Roughyeds’ left wing, scored two of his side’s seven tries.

Coach Tony Benson said: “I don’t know exactly what happened, but I took a call on Sunday morning to tell us that John was in hospital.

“By all accounts the injury was relatively serious and that was why he was operated on so quickly.”

Gillam trained with the squad on Saturday morning and was named in the side.

Three players picked up knocks during the game.

David Ellison (shin), Mark McCully (hip) and Matty Syron, who needed three stitches in a cut above an eye, will all be checked out this week.




The full version of this story is available in our eChron and print editions