Mills, Elokobi add to injury woes

Date published: 25 February 2015


A FULL-BLOWN injury crisis has enveloped Athletic.

George Elokobi and Joseph Mills are out for six weeks with pulled hamstrings sustained in the weekend defeat at Leyton Orient.

Amari Morgan-Smith has suffered a recurrence of his hamstring problem and is also likely to be out for another six weeks.

Midfield man Jacob Mellis has tweaked his hamstring and forward Rhys Murphy is struggling with a swollen knee.

But ahead of Saturday’s home clash with Preston, striker Conor Wilkinson is back in training with the rest of the squad and could be in contention for the game.

Mike Jones has lost around four kilograms through a bout of illness last week, which forced him to miss the trip to Orient. But he is expected to step straight back in to face Preston.

“I put it down to the ground conditions at the moment,” said Athletic boss Lee Johnson, when asked why so many of the players have been downed by hamstring pulls. “Every week is like the equivalent of Tough Mudder.”

Johnson said Mellis should be fit to play this weekend, but the cause and severity of Murphy’s injury isn’t yet clear.

“Genseric Kusunga and Timothee Dieng could both come in at centre-back so there is cover there,” he added. “The way we have recruited, we have players who can adapt to a number of positions.”

The news that Morgan-Smith has broken down again represents a major blow for the former Kidderminster forward, who last featured in the first team against Notts County at the end of January.