HAMMER BLOW
Waghorn is ruled out for title run-in Don’t blame our pitch, say furious Killie
RANGERS’ title hopes were dealt a major blow yesterday when striker Martyn Waghorn was sidelined for up to two months.
The Englishman won and converted an early penalty in his side’s Scottish Cup win at Kilmarnock on Tuesday only to be withdrawn with a knee injury.
Although his side went on to win the match through a last-minute goal from Nicky Clark, manager Mark Warburton later spoke of his concerns for the man who has scored 28 times since joining from Wigan last summer.
Those fears were realised yesterday when the results of scans on Waghorn’s knee revealed considerable damage, albeit t he 26-year-old will not require surgery.
Waghorn (above) later took to Twitter to confirm he could be out of action until the middle of April.
He wrote: ‘Gutted to be out for 6/8 weeks, time to work hard, recovery has already started, will be back soon fitter
and stronger!’ However, Rangers’ official update on Waghorn’s injury sparked fury at Kilmarnock last night when it described the plastic pitch at Rugby Park as ‘unforgiving’. That prompted Killie’s club secretary Michael Johnston to contact the Championship leaders and demand the ‘ill-informed’ phrase be removed from the statement on their club website. The statement read: ‘The knee injury Martyn Waghorn sustained in Tuesday night’s Scottish Cup win over Kilmarnock is not as bad as was first feared. ‘Martyn suffered the injury in the challenge that saw Rangers win their early penalty and, although he recovered enough to score from the spot, he could not continue. ‘The initial impact on an unforgiving Rugby Park surface resulted in bruising and lacerations which were immediately visible. However, thankfully the scan has revealed there will be no need for surgery, although Martyn will be sidelined for a number of weeks.’ Clearly taking umbrage at any inference there may be a connection between the Rugby Park surface and Waghorn’s injury, a furious Johnston told STV: ‘It’s disappointing the official Rangers website would carry such an ill-informed comment. ‘The 3G pitch at Rugby Park is not only FIFA two-star compliant, but also meets the higher standards set by international rugby. We have already hosted the world’s first full rugby international played on a synthetic pitch (Scotland v Tonga, November 2014). ‘In January we hosted Europe’s top club side in Racing 92 in their match with Glasgow Warriors and tomorrow evening we are hosting the Guinness Pro12 match between Warriors and Munster. ‘Clearly there is far more physical contact with the 3G pitch during a rugby match and no player has sustained any injury related to the surface. ‘The IRB require additional shock absorbency and impact protection beyond the requirements for football, so the pitch at Rugby Park represents the most forgiving playing surface in Scottish professional football. ‘My immediate reaction was the author of the article didn’t know what they were talking about and this is the sort of ill-informed remark that people tend to make about synthetic pitches without checking the facts.’