Pritch playing through pain for comeback
TOWN midfielder Alex Pritchard has received positive injury news that could now see him return to action for Town in the near future.
The playmaker was a regular starter throughout the first month of the season but has managed just two appearances since August - all of which came in November - as he has struggled with a cyst at the back of his knee.
But manager Danny Cowley has revealed that Pritchard has recently received some reassurance that he will not make the issue worse by playing through it - just so long as he can bear the pain.
The Town boss said: “Alex had a CT scan on Wednesday that was clear, which is really good.
“Without boring you on medical science an MRI scan is about 96 per cent accurate; a CT scan with a dye that they put in goes up to about 99pc accuracy. They tend not to do it as much anymore because of the risk of infection of the dye, but we were told it was very low risk so we decided to do that more than anything just to put Alex’s mind at rest.
“He still has this cyst at the back but the cyst was there before the medical when he arrived at the football club so it’s been something he’s had and that’s been there forever - it’s just that for whatever reason it’s been a little bit more painful. The good news is that the knee is pristine other than this cyst at the back of the knee so the actual structure of the knee is in absolute pristine condition. He trained for three weeks and played in the two games (in November) and had scans after that and still the knee was in pristine condition.
“So there’s no worry about him training and playing and making the knee worse, which is very positive for Alex and for us going forward.
“He’s now training really hard.
With all the strength work with Al now his strength is the best it’s ever been so he’s in a really good place. Now he’s got that peace of mind he’s determined to grit his teeth and try to play through the pain and credit to him to that because he’s a good kid and he loves football and he so desperately wants to do well.
“His concern was always that maybe there was something else we were missing or that potentially it was something else and he might be making his knee worse. “Obviously we always have to be player-centred and think of players’ careers as well as the importance of the here and now, but the good news is the scan has come back clear.
“Alex has got his head down now and he’s trying to push through it and we’re trying to build his strength so that hopefully we can get to a place where he can play regularly.
“We’ve only had him for two starts but even then he made us significantly better. We miss him.”
He’s determined to grit his teeth and play through the pain