Injury timeframe mapped out for Blackpool pair- with worst fears realised for one

The 23-year-old was forced off in the recent 1-0 defeat to Leyton Orient, just over 10 minutes after being introduced in the fixture at Brisbane Road.

Ahead of this weekend’s game against Portsmouth at Bloomfield Road, Blackpool boss Neil Critchley provided an update on the defender.

“We’ve had some bad news regarding Andy,” he explained.

“Unfortunately he’s suffered an ACL injury, which is a long-term one, so that’ll keep him out for a lengthy period of time.

“It’s different from how it used to be. If you suffered it 20 or 30 years ago, it was career threatening, but now the technology and the knowledge has advanced massively. It’s about him being strong in that area of his body, doing strengthening work and getting mobility before you do surgery- which won’t be for a couple of weeks, but that’ll speed up the process.

"One of Andy’s great strengths is his mental toughness, he plays with grit and heart, but we know as a club we need to make sure that he remains positive because it can be a lonely place being in the treatment room on his own. We need to make sure we look after and give him the time and the support he needs.

"I don’t want to speculate on exactly how long he’ll be out- everyone is different, but it’ll lengthy. He’s at the early stages so we’re not thinking about that yet.”

Albie Morgan also suffered a knee injury in the game against Leyton Orient, with the midfielder being involved in a collision.

“He’s tweaked the ligaments in his knee, so he’ll be a few weeks, he’s had an injection and he’ll need time for that to settle down before we get him out on the grass,” added Critchley.

“It’s disappointing because he’s been terrific for us. It was a contact injury, unlike Andy’s which is one you can’t legislate for. It was a blocked tackle, so it’ll just keep him out, which is unfortunate for him and us. We’ll see where he’s at for the games after the international break.”