Ade Azeez suffers injury blow at Cambridge United
New striker handed setback
Ade Azeez is set for a prolonged spell on the sidelines at Cambridge United.
The 23-year-old striker, a summer signing from Partick Thistle, sustained a knee injury as a second-half substitute in the 3-1 defeat to Barnet.
And the ligament problem could now rule him out for an extended period.
“We’re going to be missing Ade for a substantial amount of time,” said U’s head coach Shaun Derry. “He’s not yet been to the specialist to get the absolute end result.
“It’s a knee ligament problem, and we’re not expecting him back in the near future; this will be one that puts him out for a large period of time.
“Sometimes when these situations occur, you have to go back to the drawing board now and again.
“We’ve got Uche (Ikpeazu) and Jabo (Ibehre) and if they can continue the form and the way that we can play off them at this moment in time, that will serve us well.
“We need a little bit of luck and we need a little bit of consistency with the two at the top.”
Waiting in the wings for the chance to impress is young striker Matt Foy, who returned from a loan spell at St Neots to take a place on the bench in the 1-0 win at Crewe Alexandra on Tuesday night.
“It’s a great opportunity for Matty Foy,” said Derry. “For the next however many weeks, he becomes our third centre forward.
“But within that, we know Medy (Elito) can play at the top and that Dave Amoo can be pushed into that more central position as well.
“So while you are looking at players missing, there is always that opportunity for someone else.
“I think it was an important pre-season for Matt. He spent all the pre-season with us and I know he has been on loan, but within that loan he has trained with us throughout the week.
“He is very much part of the group, he knows all the players and, more importantly, the players know Matty. And if we have to call upon Matt, I’m sure he won’t let us down.”
Meanwhile, Kyle Howkins has been training for the past 10 days after a hamstring injury but Jake Carroll is out with a niggle picked up in training.
