Morecambe boss is dealt another injury blow

Having scored on his first league start of the season against Forest Green Rovers on Saturday, the striker limped off after an hour with injury.

A scan on Sunday then showed the 30-year-old had suffered a recurrence of a hamstring injury and will be absent for up to four weeks.

“It’s very frustrating,” Shrimps boss Derek Adams told the club website ahead of Tuesday’s trip to Carlisle United.

“A-Jay had a scan this morning and it has shown a recurrence of a hamstring injury.

“Alex Kenyon and Ryan Cooney are both making good progress but Tuesday might come too soon for them, Liam Gibson remains unavailable with his hamstring injury.

“Adam Phillips is recovering from an illness so he didn’t train today, while Cole Stockton and Harry Davis are still isolating because of exposure to the virus.

“It’s hard to take with the number of games we are going to have to play in a short space of time, but we have some really good players waiting to play.”

Leitch-Smith had spoken to the media after Saturday’s loss and outlined his happiness at returning to action, coupled with disappointment at the result.

He said: “It’s good to get a start, obviously disappointed with the result but hopefully I can crack on from here and get a few more games.

“When you’re a footballer, you want to play football at the end of the day.

“Last year, I think I was not available for three games when the gaffer came in so I wouldn’t say I was injured for all last year.

“I got a little bit of a knock when the centre-half leaned on me so we’ll see how that is. It’s just good to get minutes under the belt now.

“We defended really well. They are a good side, they play good football and I thought we defended really well but, obviously, you win some, you lose some.”

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