Chris Shuker is recovering well from his recent injury and could be back in action within a month.
Striker recovering well from cartilage damage
Chris Shuker is recovering well from his recent injury and could be back in action within a month.
The striker feared that he had suffered cruciate ligament damage against Carlisle on Boxing Day, but surgery later revealed that the injury was not as serious as first thought.
With his rehabilitation now progressing nicely Rovers boss Ronnie Moore is hoping to have the player back in contention for their League One game at home to Hartlepool on 15th March.
"Shuker's making excellent progress," Moore told the
Liverpool Echo.
"He is getting closer every day. The Hartlepool game is the one we are looking at for his possible return."
Emergency
The injury to Shuker, and fellow winger Steve Davis, has left Tranmere short of wide men and Moore admits that any more injuries and the club may be forced to delve into the emergency loan market.
"If anything were to happen to one of the wide men that would leave us short in terms of playing 4-4-2," he said.
"So we have worked on one of two alternative patterns of play in training. The players know what they have to do if we decide to make a change.
"To be fair, if anything happened on a long-term basis to one of the wide men, I'm sure the chairman will allow us to use the emergency loan system to try and bring someone in."
Points
Tranmere are set to face FA Cup heroes Bristol Rovers at the Memorial Ground on Saturday. The Pirates have four games in hand on Ronnie Moore's side, meaning that they could potentially wipe out the 11 point gap between the two teams and launch a play-off bid of their own.
"Games in hand are worth much less than points on the board in my view," Moore argued.
"A lot of the teams who think they are in with a bit of a chance and have games in hand have to play each other.
"And the longer Bristol Rovers are involved in the cup the better it is for us."
