Stoke City FC

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• Manager:Tony Pulis

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Potters handed Sidibe boost

16 Dec 2008 - 12:26:15

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Stoke City have been boosted by the news that striker Mamady Sidibe's knee injury is not as serious as was at first feared.

The 28-year-old Mali international sustained a knee injury in the goalless draw at home to Fulham last weekend, with City fearing that Sidibe could miss the rest of the season.

However, subsequent tests have shown that the frontman did not suffer ligament damage and had only hyper-extended his knee.

Manager Tony Pulis told The Sentinel: "He'll be out over Christmas and most probably miss the FA Cup game at Hartlepool in the New Year, but after that we are keeping our fingers crossed.

"It seems that he has hyper-extended his knee and left it a little bit unstable as a result, so we've got to go carefully with him.

"He will have a mix of rest and strengthening work to build up the knee again and most probably wear a brace for a short while to help stabilise it.

"We are relieved it wasn't any worse than this to be honest, because you can sometimes be in the lap of the Gods when it comes to knee injuries."