Southend United physio Ben Clarkson trying to solve Blues' deepening injury crisis (From Echo)

Southend United physio Ben Clarkson trying to solve Blues' deepening injury crisis

1:31pm Thursday 14th February 2013 in Sport By Chris Phillips

SOUTHEND United’s physiotherapist Ben Clarkson is attempting to get to the bottom of the club’s deepening injury crisis.

Seven key members of Blues first team squad are currently out of action, along with the suspended Ryan Cresswell.

And Clarkson is keen to discover what has contributed to the high number of knocks.

“We always analyse things and we will definitely be holding a review of how we do things after these recent injuries, “ said Clarkson.

“We will look at our training, preparation to games and the recovery as well to see if we could change anything.

“We keep a lot of data and we will be looking at all of that. But little more than a week ago we were virtually clear of injuries and it seems to have gone from one extreme to the other.

“We’ve done nothing differently between then and now, however it’s just been highlighted as key players are now missing from a relatively small but highly competitive squad.”

Despite that, Clarkson does not feel the current list of absentees is the worst of his seven years at Roots Hall.

But he believes Southend’s demanding schedule has played a part in the injuries.

“We’ve had extra matches on pitches which are quite heavy and we’ve had the same squad members playing in most of them which has taken its toll,” said Clarkson.

“When players are coming back from injuries they haven’t been able to get a good week of training under their belts because we’ve needed them to go straight back in to playing again.

“Unfortunately some of our players have a history of injuries as well which we’ve been trying to work through.

“And we’re doing all we can to get people back playing as quickly as we’re can because we have important matches coming up and we’re missing the spine of our side at the moment.”

Blues currently have just 15 fit senior players and were forced to include assistant manager Graham Coughlan among the substitutes for Tuesday night’s 2-1 defeat against Cheltenham Town.

He could again be included for Saturday’s game with Northampton Town and Blues are exploring the possibility of bringing more players in on loan to strengthen their squad.

CLARKSON ON THE INJURIES

Freddy Eastwood (knee)

Freddy’s had his injury injury for a while and it flared up again after the Essex Senior Cup game against Waltham Abbey.

But we’re pushing for him to be back in training before the end of the week and he could be available for the Northampton game.

Michael Timlin (broken leg)

Michael has now had his operation and he had a metal rod put in to his leg. The surgeon also sorted out an old injury ankle he had and he’s happy with how it went.

But he will be out for between six and nine months.

Caolan Lavery (hamstring)

Caolan suffered some discomfort in his hamstring during the Cheltenham game.

We’ve spoken to his parent club, Sheffield Wednesday, and he will be having a scan on the injury tomorrow.

Mark Phillips (sprained toe)

Mark sprained his toe against Orient and he’s had a painkilling injection on it now.

We will have to wait and see how it responds to that.

He will have a late fitness test before the Northampton game and he might be ready for that or it could take another couple of weeks.

Gavin Tomlin (thigh)

Gavin is making good progress. He’s doing some strength work and could be back in about two weeks.

Marc Laird (hamstring)

Marc’s hamstring is still quite sore but it’s too early to say how long he will be out for as we need to give it 48 hours and see how it settles down.

Chris Barker (calf)

Chris suffered a dead leg against Orient and that has developed in to a small strain now. It’s settling down and he could be back for the Orient game on Wednesday.