Market Drayton Town’s star flying winger, Stuart Ellis, will be sitting out Tuesday night’s showpiece match with York City at Greenfields – and expects to stay sidelined for up to six months.
Ellis has had a cruciate ligament operation on the troublesome knee that limited his appearances in Town’s eventful UniBond (now EvoStik) League South debut season.
“It’s a massive blow. I was really looking forward to this season after the disappointments of last winter,” said Ellis when he turned up at training on Tuesday night to jolly along his team-mates.
“I had the operation done at Gobowen, which is as good as it gets. But the surgeon warned me it could be up to six months before I’m up and running at full tilt again.
“I feared this might happen months ago. The knee kept going on me but at the time they said I would not need an op. If they had operated then, I’d be well on the road to recovery. Now, I’ll miss most of another season again.
“But, on the bright side, it’s done now. It’s up to me to get back to playing as quickly as possible. In the meantime, I’ll keep yelling at the lads from the touchline.”
Town manager Simon Line continued his squad’s training last night and plans to step things up at the Shrewsbury Sports Village complex tomorrow morning before settling on a squad to face York on Tuesday evening.
Town lost the latest of their pre-season games 3-0 at Barrow on Saturday with a young and largely trial team – but Line expects to be much nearer full strength for York’s visit.
He said: “Losing Stuey is obviously a blow but we should have a lot of the familiar faces back from holidays and the like.”
Tuesday’s game will also take Line and his first team coach, Mick Murphy, on a trip down football’s memory lane.
York is Line’s home town and although he never played for them before serving with Arsenal and Crystal Palace and then going on to make his name combining non-League football with a flourishing teaching career, he has family and many friends in the area.
“York City were the club we supported as a family,” he recalls.
“They have a massive set-up and great backing. They made the play-offs for promotion to the League last season and I’m sure will be back up there again next year.”
But it was Murphy who became the prime mover in attracting such a big name side to Greenfields, thanks to his long-term friendship with York manager Martin Foyle.
They spent several years working together at Port Vale at the centre of the club’s youth set-up.
Murphy was on a coaching career which eventually won him the coveted UEFA A class qualification and a post as Shropshire FA’s director of football, which he now combines with his work at Drayton.
Foyle, already a Vale legend with his goalscoring exploits on the field, was embarking on a new venture behind the scenes that led to managership of the Potteries club, a brief caretaker role at Wrexham and then, two years ago, a move to York.
“They’ve remained mates and it was that friendship which helped put on such an attractive pre-season fixture at Greenfields,” said boss Line.
- There’s an early kick-off to Tuesday’s match against York – 7pm instead of the usual 7.45pm. “The change was requested by the visitors,” said a club official.
By Terry Morris
