Bell out for season as Port ready for Boston

• Southport Visiter
• 4 Aug 2022
• BY TERRY OWEN

SOUTHPORT FC have been dealt a major blow on the eve of the National League curtain raiser with the news Nyal Bell will almost certainly miss the entire season having ruptured his ACL.

The Port star picked up the injury during the friendly against Bootle but the severity was only confirmed after the Everton clash by manager Liam Watson.

The Sandgrounders kick off their league campaign on Saturday with a trip to Boston United.

Watson confirmed: “Nyal has ruptured his cruciate ligament. It’s really badly swollen at the moment.

“Nyal won’t kick a ball this season.

“By the time he has the operation you’re looking at least nine months.

“I think people have come back post-op but the stats on people who have come back before nine months aren’t great.

“If he came back at the end of April you’re just not going to take a risk with him.

“The last couple of years he’s lost his way a little but what he did do was come in and train.

“He’s trained well, he hasn’t missed a session and mixed in, got himself a goal and he looked as though he’d give us something different to what we had.

“I have spoken to him and he was in bits so all we can do as a football club is support him which we have done.

“That’s one good thing Southport Football Club does, we’ll do everything we can”.

Whilst acknowledging the pre-season schedule has undoubtedly benefited the Sandgrounders, other injuries have clearly impacted the squad.

Watson continued: “Josh is going to be out for a month and Declan has been out for three or four weeks now so in pre-season we’ve lost three – three big players for us but we’re just going to have to regroup.

“We’re probably going to have to bring someone in but not just a body for the sake of bringing in a body.

“I’m a great believer of bringing in someone from a league team but not if they’re not going to go into the team.

“If it’s a season-long loan then you he’s your player but if it’s for a month then you have to play him.

“It’s going to have to be a really good player and better than what we have”.

Injuries headaches apart, Watson is pleased with how the summer fixtures have benefited his squad, whilst also noting the difference in class following the Port’s 4-0 home defeat to Everton.

He said: “On the balance of play we’ve had seven games in pre-season and we’ve worked incredibly hard.

“They’re a good group of lads but they’re maybe a bit deflated today with the decision making but Everton are a lot quicker, that’s just reality.

“We had a good game against Bolton but sometimes it’s nice to be brought back down to earth with a bump.

“These pre-season games are glorified training sessions but we do a lot of good work to get good clubs to come here to generate finance so you’ve got to be grateful to Blackpool, grateful to

Bolton, grateful to Everton and Tranmere.

“We were obviously a million miles second best but they have some great players.

“Their right winger was on a different level.

“I was very impressed with Everton but we didn’t do ourselves any favours because we conceded three goals from set pieces but that shows you how quickly they break.

“They weren’t afraid to use the long, diaganal ball. But it was good, it was great for fitness.

“They’ve been good games, no complaints but we’ve been a little bit unlucky with injuries.

“I thought Connor was good when he came on, Jack was good when he came on.

“Everyone’s had the same amount of minutes, I’ve had to juggle it a bit but I know what my starting eleven will be”.