Allen’s wait for debut goes on after new KO
COVENTRY City’s Jamie Allen has had his worst fears confirmed after learning he’s suffered a recurrence of the deep muscle tear that has prevented him making his competitive debut for the club.
The 24-year-old summer signing from Burton Albion was hoping to be involved today against his old team as the Sky Blues head to the Pirelli Stadium.
But his comeback in the Under-23s on Monday lasted just seven minutes.
Although Allen went off as a “precaution” after feeling the hip injury, manager Mark Robins revealed: “Jamie’s injury is a recurrence of the injury he has had, which is something the physio has only ever seen once before so we have been doing a little bit of reading up on it.
“In fact there was a female footballer who had a complete rupture of the same muscle and was back playing in three weeks.
“The physio sent me the case study but whether he’s telling me three weeks, I don’t know.
“There’s actually a specialist in Coventry who the physio is speaking to try to get to the bottom of it because they can’t access it. It’s so deep inside the pelvis, and part of the hip movement.
“So while that’s disappointing for everyone concerned, Jamie will be back compared to Dan Bartlett and Reise Allassani who have done their ACLs and will need surgery and a significant period of recovery.” He added: “Jamie just wants to be out there playing because that’s what he lives for. He’s an infectious character with a bubbly nature about him on the field, and he will have missed that.” Looking for possible reasons for the extremely rare injury, he said: “He played a bit of tennis in pre-season to help stay in shape so whether that’s had any impact, I have no idea. But this is a really unusual injury that we have to put down to bad luck, I suppose, and just focus on what we can do to get him back to full health.”
Elsewhere, there’s better news with left-back Brandon Mason playing for the Under-23s against Birmingham City yesterday after sitting out the last two league games with a hamstring strain.
He is unlikely to feature at Burton, however, with expected to keep his place, particularly after his outstanding showing against Blackpool.
And Sky Blues centre-back Michael Rose has been given a clean bill of health after going off against the Seasiders last week with a groin issue.
“He’s OK,” said Robins. “It wasn’t a tear or anything, just fatigue-based, so he’s fine.”
Jamie just wants to be out there playing because that’s what he lives for. He’s an infectious character. Mark Robins