It's been nothing short of a nightmare start to the season for United's 28-year-old midfielder Chris Lumsdon as a troubling back problem slowly became something much worse, keeping the influential play-maker out of action and out of training as the surgeons and consultants worked feverishly behind the scenes to get to the root cause of the injury.

An operation, designed to clean out the area around his lower back, was booked and scheduled for today, but Lummy finally received some good news when the doctors carried out their pre-op examination and decided that the procedure wasn't needed after all.

Manager John Ward told us this morning: "It's really good news for Chris and for us that he hasn't needed to go through this operation. The surgeons feel that they have seen a significant improvement in his condition, and they are delighted with how he has progressed."

"They were very concerned about the fact that there was a real lack of power and mobility in the foot," he added, "and that was all caused by the problem with his back. They are now satisfied that power is now beginning to return to that area, without the necessity of an operation. We will now get Chris back at the club on Thursday and we'll see if we can continue to build him up naturally, which is much the preferred option for everybody."

"His recovery period will not be affected by the fact that he hasn't had the operation," he confirmed. "It is a step forward for us though, because we can now concentrate on his rehabilitation, rather than have to factor in any post-op work that might have been needed. He is feeling much better in himself now, because the feeling is coming back in to the leg, and it goes without saying that without that, he simply can't play football. With that now returning there is light at the end of what has been a long tunnel for him, and he will be able to pick up on his training programme - under guidance of course. However, it won't increase the rate of his recovery, it just removes one of the complications associated with it and it makes him feel much more positive, which is extremely important when you are recovering from an injury."