Long could be out for several months with injury

CHELTENHAM Town defender Sean Long could be sidelined for several months and may need surgery on a hip injury.

Manager Michael Duff revealed the news after Tuesday’s 1-0 EFL Trophy win at Newport, where Reuben Reid’s 70th minute header secured victory - and £8,000 in prize money.

“I don’t know the exact prognosis, but it doesn’t look good,” said Duff on Long’s injury.

“He could be out for several months. I’ll have to speak to Gav (Crowe) properly, but it’s longer term and he might need surgery.

“Due to times we are in, it might take longer to get done, so it wasn’t great news.”

New signing Matty Blair played for 45 minutes at right wing-back at Rodney Parade, while Dan Bowry and Elliott Bonds also made their first appearances after injury.

Duff was pleased to secure a second 1-0 win on the back of their 1-0 victory at Peterborough in the Carabao Cup first round on Saturday the first time the Robins have started a season with successive wins since 2006/07.

“I thought it was a really good game, with a real intensity to it,”

That was two minutes after Sercombe found the bottom corner when a corner was cleared to him 20 yards out.

Cheltenham finished with a fourman backline and captain Ben Tozer playing in a deep-lying midfield role and they saw out the game well, even if they had to rely on Griffiths’ agility at times to keep out some testing longrange efforts.

Several players are close to regaining fitness along with Boyle, including latest signing Matty Blair, young defender Dan Bowry and loan midfielder from Hull City, Elliot Bonds.

That leaves only Sean Long (hip) alongside long-term absentee Scott Flinders in the treatment room.

Right wing-back Long is due to see a specialist this week.

In his absence, midfielder Conor Thomas has deputised in the latter friendly matches and he remained there at Peterborough.

Thomas underlined his value with a convincing display and he was released on the right by fine cross field balls from Sercombe in the early stages.

He rarely gives the ball away and although he would rather be in the middle, his versatility is another major advantage for Duff.

Blair’s return to fitness is likely to see Thomas revert to his more accustomed role and with Chris Clements and Bonds also providing midfield options, it is an area of the pitch that looks well covered.

Peterborough United: Pym; Thompson, Beevers, Kent; Ward (Clarke 60), Taylor, Brown (Kanu 60), Broom (Hamilton 60), Butler; Dembele, Eisa. Subs not used: Gyollai, Burrows, Clarke-harris, Mason.

Cheltenham Town: Griffiths; Raglan, Tozer, Freestone (Boyle 67); Thomas, Clements, Sercombe (Lloyd 89), Azaz, Hussey; Williams, May (Addai 83). Subs not used: Harris, Reid, Horton, Chamberlain.

Star Man: Liam Sercombe. said Duff. We asked the lads who played to do exactly what we did on Saturday in terms of intensity and mentality and they delivered.

“I think there have been lots and lots of positives. I am not bothered about results in pre-season, but performances look after results.”

Blair and Bonds played 45 and 60 minutes respectively, which was pre-planned.

“We were always going to go to a back four in the second half,” said Duff.

“Blairy showed what he is and the one thing we haven’t done a lot of so far is working against a back four and we’ll be doing more of that now ahead of Morecambe.

“Elliot is a good player as well, with good physicality and he can handle the ball, so he can be a big player for us this year.”

Bowry and first-year pros Grant Horton and Tom Chamberlain all played the 90 minutes and Duff said: “Dan has been out on loan but he won’t have played at that sort of intensity. Grant has come in and looked really comfortable and Chambo is a good footballer but every now and then he takes a liberty and gets the ball pinched off him. He needs to work on that.”