Roeder receives Huckerby boost

Michael Bailey

Norwich City star Darren Huckerby could return to action as early as next week after having an injection for his hip problem.

The 31-year-old was missing for the Canaries weekend stalemate with Leicester on Saturday due to a recurrence of the injury which ruled the winger out of City's preseason preparations.

But Huckerby travelled to London yesterday, where a specialist gave him an anti-inflammatory injection in the joint, allowing him to return to training after a short rest.

It is hoped the injection will be enough to keep the problem at bay until the end of the season; Huckerby underwent the same treatment back in August after seeing his entire pre-season preparations ruined by the same problem.

City's league game against Southampton on Tuesday night may come too soon for Huckerby, but avoiding a much longer lay-off would still be considered a boost for manager Glenn Roeder.

“He had an injection yesterday morning by the same surgeon that did it last time,” City physio Neal Reynolds to the official club website. “He'll have a couple of days rest and from there he will carry on training again.

“Early indications are that the injection will work. He's a lot better than he was and this will tide him over.”

The injection won't provide a long-term cure for the problem however - surgery would be the answer to that question, and it is something Reynolds doesn't want to resort to yet.

“It won't be perfect,” he said. “It won't be absolutely 100 per cent, but we want to make sure it's more comfortable.

“Surgery is the last resort. I don't think anybody would advise having surgery unless he desperately needed it. We are at the stage at the moment where he can try the injection. The surgery would be a big surgery and it's not something we would take lightly.”