Chris Skitt gives an update on Joe Riley's injury
Shrewsbury Town can confirm that Joe Riley suffered an ankle injury in Town’s 2-0 defeat against Oxford United on Saturday.Riley was substituted in the 33rd minute and taken straight to hospital where scans showed a broken fibula and ankle ligament damage.
ShrewsWeb caught up with club physio Chris Skitt this morning to get a better picture of the damage.
“It’s unfortunate for Joe”, said Chris.
“He was involved in a tackle during this game and almost immediately we realised that something wasn’t quite right and something potentially quite significant.
“So, we carted him off for an x-ray during the game and it’s come back showing quite a bit of damage to the ankle itself in terms of the ligaments and the soft tissue around it, but there’s also been a break to the fibula - the small bone in the shin.”
“With the injury consisting of both a break and ligament damage, an operation will be required and it won’t be until after the operation is finished that a timescale can be put on his recovery.
“He will have to have an operation to correct the bone because it is quite a significant break, but then he’s also got the ligament and soft tissue injuries to contend with, so we will be looking to get him into an operation on Thursday and then the rehab starts there”, continued Skitt.
“We’ve got to check one or two things inside the ankle that obviously a scan or an x-ray can’t see, so the surgeon will really guide us once we’ve been in and had a look.
“I will be going into the operation with him to obviously make any decisions there and then, so it’s hard at the minute to put a timescale on it, but I would imagine it would be a significant amount of time for Joe.”
Riley has had a difficult season with injury and will now be working flat out over the summer to try and recover as quickly as possible.
“It’s been a bit up and down for Joe really”, Chris admitted.
“He’s obviously had some game time, but has been blighted by injuries in some respects. He was obviously looking forward to the off-season, looking forward to rest and recharge and have a season without injury, but unfortunately it looks like he will be starting the season with an injury.
“He’s going to have to cancel a few holidays he’s got planned, but unfortunately that’s the life of a footballer, he’ll have to cope with that and in the short-term he will need to be in getting treatment.”