Jordan Clarke's injury sustained in the win over Watford at the weekend has added to Andy Thorn's injury concerns as he prepares for the final run in at the end of the season.
However Thorn can call on Martin Cranie, who recovered quicker than originally thought from a hamstring injury picked up at Hull last month. It was thought that Cranie would be out for at least a month, but he was back on the field of play after just three weeks and he is now determined to stay fit for the remainder of the season.
Cranie was surprised at how quickly he healed and possibly even more so that he lasted the whole game last Saturday. It was he who told Thorn that he would be ready to restart training just two weeks after tweaking his hamstring.
It was certainly to the benefit of Coventry City that he did pay as he played an important part in securing City's first clean sheet in 13 games.
Cranie said, “I only trained twice last week and I was hoping everything would be all right and it was."
There were concerns for Cranie when he went down twice during the game and needed treatment, but on both occasions he resumed playing.
He revealed, “I went down but it was nothing to do with the injury, just a bit of cramp because I haven’t done much for three weeks. So it is nothing to worry about and everything is OK now."
"The hamstring is fine and I am confident that’s me good for the rest of the season now. I rested it over the weekend and it’s a case of back to training this week."
“When I first did the injury they said there was a seven centimetre area of inflammation in my leg and that I was looking at at least a month out, but after two weeks I felt fine and thought I could do a bit of running. So I did that a week last Saturday and thought I would be OK to play against Watford. "
"I trained with the lads on Thursday and Friday and came through OK and that was it.”
As for young right back Jordan Clarke, he had to limp off the pitch with an injury to his right ankle and is a doubt for City's trip to Derby on Saturday. Cranie has sympathy for the youngster who is trying to establish himself in the first team.
He said, “It is a shame for Clarkey because I thought he was doing well when he was on, but hopefully it is just a knock and he will be fit enough to join back in training this week.”