Full extent of Blackpool stars injury revealed as Neil Critchley reveals sleepness nights

Neil Critchley has admitted that Blackpool club captain Ollie Norburn is growing frustrated at his lack of first-team action due to back-to-back injuries.

Norburn has played just one game in the last month, and has missed seven games in total. He was out with a neck injury in mid-October that made him miss four games, and having returned against Bolton Wanderers, he has now missed the wins against Morecambe and Shrewsbury Town.

The 31-year-old took a knock on his ribs against Bolton, however he played on. The full extent of his injury has now been revealed however, and the midfielder has been in quite some discomfort.

“He's really frustrated because Norbs just wants to play, he loves contributing and he's the captain,” said Critchley. 

"He misses football when he's not involved so for him to come back and play like he did at Bolton, I think he was out for like three-and-a-half weeks or nearly a month. To come back and play 90 minutes in a game of that intensity I thought he was fantastic."

Norburn did well to get himself back in to contention for Bolton Wanderers, and after his latest setback, he could once feature again. Unbeaten league leaders Portsmouth are Blackpool's next challenge. His presence on the pitch on Saturday (November 25) would be a big boost, given the need for leaders because of the strength of the opposition.

Critchley added: "He got a right crack in the ribs in the first-half and he wanted to carry on, he saw the game through. He's been in a lot of discomfort and I think we all know if you've ever had a rib problem just breathing is of a big difficulty. 

“He lost a little bit of sleep and he couldn't sleep properly and we had to wait for that to settle down. 

“When you've got a problem with your ribs, doing any type of exercise is difficult. He's been pushing himself and doing more and he wants to be available for the weekend. It's a decision that I am going to have to make."