There was a collective holding of the breath at the end of the game at Stevenage on Saturday afternoon as winger Brennan Dickenson took a nasty fall when he came under pressure tight by the corner flag, as he tried to keep the ball in play, and the worst was feared when a stretcher was called for with the player clearly in some amount of pain.
Having already battled back from a hamstring injury that needed surgery to help with its repair, and which had ruled him out of the first half of the current season, things appeared to be well and truly on track when he scored his first goal for the club to put his side back in it in the second period at the Lamex Stadium.
But just half an hour later his day was turned upside down, and there will now be an anxious wait as the extent of the knee injury picked up late in the encounter is assessed.
“I feel so sorry for the lad, it’s just another punch to the guts,” manager Chris Beech said after the game. “I’m gutted for him. Hopefully it isn’t as bad as it looks, but we’ll have to wait and see.
“You’re going to take hits in any type of competition like this, but the lad just put his full weight through Brennan’s knee.
“He was competing for the ball in the last minute by the corner flag and he was fouled, and I don’t think the lad means to hurt or harm him, but he knew what he was doing in that situation.
“Like I say, his full weight basically went right through Brennan’s knee. He’s had some painkillers, we spent a period getting him up on crutches, he travelled back with Gav Skelton and he’ll then be in for a scan, so we’ll have to wait and see.
“It does look bad for Brennan, but hopefully it’s not as bad once it gets checked. Our fingers are crossed because it’s a real shame for him. He’s just starting to get back and the goal, that’s the kind of thing he wants to bring.
“Let’s just wait and see, we can’t second guess, and once we have the information we can take it from there.
“The reason you feel sorry for him is that he gave it everything. He scored his goal, he’s powerful and professional, and he gets leaned on in the last inch of the pitch, doing his best in the last minute of a game. All we can do is hope that it comes out favourably for him once he gets looked at.”
