Michael West

West set to go under the knife on Monday

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Ebbsfleet United midfielder Michael West looks set to play his final game on Saturday against Alfreton Town before undergoing a hernia operation next week.

The 20-year-old was influential in their promotion from the Blue Square Bet South last season, scoring 20 goals, and so far this season has netted eight times for the Stonebridge Road side.

But after picking up the injury in the 3-2 win over Tamworth on January 24, West has been playing through the pain barrier, and was set to start last Saturday against York City before the FA Trophy tie was postponed.

Boss Liam Daish looks set to play him at the weekend in their Blue Square Bet Premier clash at home to Alfreton, before West undergoes surgery on Monday, which will keep him out for three-to-four weeks, thus ruling him out of Tuesday’s Trophy match at York, and at least the three subsequent league matches against Bath City, Southport and Gateshead.

“Michael was set to feature at York, but that game was called off. He needs to go under the knife and there was no benefit in continuing to put the operation back any further,” said Daish.

“The sooner we can get him back to full fitness the better for the team.”

And with the influential midfielder out of action, Daish felt the need to act, and brought in striker Gozie Ugwu on a month-long loan deal last week from Championship side Reading to lessen the impact of West’s impending spell on the sidelines.

“Gozie has come in after a recommendation from a long-time football friend of mine that is associated with Reading,” added Daish.

“He alerted me to his availability and that enabled me to bring him in. In losing Michael I have had to look at my options and I thought it was best that I brought a forward in.”

After Saturday’s postponed FA Trophy tie, Fleet’s full first team will have been without a game for two weeks when they play the Reds at home this weekend, and Daish is hopeful his players show eagerness on their return.

“Having not played in a while isn’t a good thing, but the players need to show a willingness to hit the ground running again on Saturday,” he said. “It is by no means an easy game.”

And the Fleet chief believes he learnt a few lessons from their 2-2 draw earlier on in the season with Alfreton – having let slip a 2-0 half-time lead.

“We have learnt from that day that we have to be a lot better in certain areas of the pitch and hopefully that will be highlighted in the performance on Saturday.”