Source: Northern_Echo
Brough out for season
DARLINGTON restored morale yesterday with a comfortable 3-1 home win over Barrow, but the good news was tempered as it was revealed that Michael Brough has been ruled out for the rest of the season.[LNB] The midfielder has been one of manager Mark Cooper's first-choice players since recovering from a knee injury at the start of the season.[LNB] But the same injury has returned and Cooper, who now has four players ruled out with a knee problem, expects the 29- year-old to require an operation.[LNB] He said: Michael Brough will be out for the rest of the season. He's got the same knee problem as Gareth Waite. He's been carrying the injury so we knew it might come to this.[LNB] He'll have to see a surgeon this week but the physio already thinks that he's going to need an op.[LNB] It's not career-threatening, but it is problematic until he has the operation.[LNB] Brough missed the first 16 matches of the season, but played the last nine before his place was taken in yesterday's line-up by Jamie Chandler.[LNB] We got him back to fit and straight away results turned with him in the team, Cooper added.[LNB] But then he felt it again and from that point we knew we were just managing the injury, it was a matter of time before it happened again.[LNB] That means we've now got Brough, Waite, Chris Senior and Paul Terry all out longterm with knee injuries.[LNB] They're all big, experienced players for us.[LNB]
