Luke James is facing a battle to play again this season
after results of a scan confirmed he suffered a serious groin injury during
The forward was forced off just before the hour mark in
Pools' tie against The Grecians at Victoria Park and the Club's medical staff arranged
for him to undergo a scan on Wednesday.Unfortunately, the results have confirmed the worst fears
and James is now in a race against time to play any further part in the 2019/20
campaign.“One of the muscles on the inside of his thigh that forms
part of the groin complex has come away from the bone,” explained Physio,
Callum Davidson.“We'll seek advice from a specialist before deciding on the best
strategy moving forward and there's a good chance that he may need surgery but
he will be out for a considerable amount of time.”The news comes as a big blow to Pools given James' excellent
form this season and the fact he has started in every game since Dave Challinor
was appointed as boss last month.“I'm gutted for Luke more than anyone,” admitted Challinor.
“I thought he would be an integral part of us beingsuccessful between now and the end of the season so it's really bad news.
“I still think, moving forward, that he's a player I want to
work with and, although this is a disappointing time for him, the important
thing now is that we look after him and get him right.“If that comes before the end of the season then great, butif not then he should know that he's still a big part of my plans.
“As daft as it sounds, as the door shuts for one player itopens for someone else and we've enough here to give people that opportunity.
“We'll have to make an assessment pretty quickly as to
whether we go with what we've got or whether we need to add but it's certainly
not given us reason to panic or rush in to anything.“If things become available in the next day, week or monththen we'll look at where we are.”