Derry City will be without their main striker Rory Patterson after the Strabane man discovered he broke his ankle during Derry match against Bohemians match five weeks ago. Patterson, who scored 16 goals for the Candystripes last season, only retur
Derry City will be without their main striker Rory Patterson after the Strabane man discovered he broke his ankle during Derry match against Bohemians match five weeks ago.
Patterson, who scored 16 goals for the Candystripes last season, only returned from a knee ligament injury, which he also suffered against Bohemians, for Derry’s defeat to Bray Wanderers at the weekend.
However, the striker had to be hauled off after 31 minutes when he heard a crack running for the ball and he was taken straight to hospital.
An x-ray discovered Patterson had suffered a broken ankle and he had a metal plate inserted during surgery the following day.
Speaking to the Derry Journal Patterson said: “This injury is actually from the Bohs match, so I’ve been running around on it for the past month and it’s been broke,” he explained.
“I’d say it’s from the tackle which won the penalty at Bohs. I felt the pain in my leg then and thought I could run it off at the time.
“It’s been sore since but I thought it was something else. It’s been sore this week but I’ve been getting by on it. When I ran to the breaking ball I just heard a big crack.”
While the injury is expected to keep Patterson out for a number of months, he is optimistic looking forward.
“I had to get a plate in it,” he said. “I had the operation on Saturday and the doctors are going to get this cast off in 10 days time. I’m on painkillers at the minute but haven’t really thought about putting a time frame on getting back just yet.
“The thing that’s doing my head in is that I’ve been on it for a month. I thought there was a sharp pain at the time but I get those kind of whacks all the time and thought I would run it off.
“I spoke to the doctor and told him what happened at Bohs and he told me that made sense because there was no way I could have done it by running on it.”
“I don’t know what’s going on at the minute I’ll have to see when the cast comes off how I feel and then I can get a plan on getting myself back.
“When I did my knee I was told four weeks but was back in three and probably could’ve played against Drogheda but Kenny (Shiels) wanted to give me that extra couple of days training.”
Patterson injury will be a huge blow to Kenny Shiels, who is likely to be without captain Gerard Doherty for Friday clash with Cork City.
“It’s a thigh injury for Gerard because he hit the post when he tried to save the free kick,” Shiels confirmed.
“We should have had him off. He should have went off, but Gerard being Gerard wanted to play on and he couldn’t get his position right for the second goal. Normally he would have swept that up. That was a contributing factor.”
