Yeovil Town captain Josh Staunton has revealed he will miss eight matches next season having been advised not to play on artificial surfaces due to a knee injury.
The skipper told 3 Valleys Radio‘s programme ‘Football Bloody Hell’ that he would miss the opening three away fixtures of the National League South season with Hemel Hempstead Town, Maidstone United and Havant & Waterlooville all having artificial pitches.
He was not involved in Tuesday night’s 5-0 pre-season friendly win at Dorchester Town due to the 3G surface at The Avenue Stadium.
Asked about the matches he would miss, Staunton said: “My target is ever single game other than 3G games, that is my target every single season.
“I know I can’t run around like a 21-year-old anymore so I will adapt and find a way, but my aim is to be available for 39 games. They are all unfortunately marked down. There’s no grey territory, it’s a green light or red light.
“I won’t be available for an away game until September, our first three games are all on 3G surfaces. The gaffer is taking me on as part of the coaching staff, so I will be there in a different form.”
According to our resident National League expert, Seb White, the following clubs have artificial surfaces:
Aveley
Eastbourne Borough
Havant & Waterlooville
Hemel Hempstead Town
Maidstone United
Slough Town
Tonbridge Angels
Worthing
He said that a decision to play on the 3G surface at Bromley last season had nearly ended his career after suffering a painful reaction to playing on the pitch, and said that he was now having to have a tailored programme of training during the current pre-season campaign.
Speaking of the impact of the 4-1 defeat at Bromley in January, the 27-year-old said: “It nearly ended my career it was that bad. I have never felt anything like it, I was not the same after and we had such a flurry of games thereafter, so I could not settle my knee down.
“It all came from the impact of playing on 3G, I just could not get the swelling back under control and I did not have time for injections because games were coming thick and fast.”
On his pre-season fitness regime, he added: “I try and keep the pounding out of my knee, so every time they do a run, I substitute it with a bike, so I do non-impact stuff. I have trained a lot more than I expected to, I am trying to get some bedding back in to it.
“I had a summer where I was completely off it and I was not allowed to do any running, so I have bedded it back in through careful management and I hope to be in a much better position that I was last year.
“It is just a case of trying to keep low impact where possible until I can build up a tolerance of it, but hopefully I will be managing it and will be available for 39 games of the season.“