Murty facing lengthy lay-off

Southampton defender Graeme Murty could be out for the rest of the season after undergoing an operation on his ankle.The 35-year-old full-back had been sidelined for over a month with ligament damage and has now been forced to go under the knife."Unfortunately it looks like Graeme is out for a while," said Saints manager Alan Pardew."It's a shame. He's in the autumn or winter part of his career now where he doesn't need injuries of this type, so it's very unfortunate as that will take a while to recover from."Murty will be out of contract in the summer, and Pardew added: "We might have to look at each other at the end of the season and see where we are going from there."