Better news for Duane Ofori-Acheampong

When new signing Duane Ofori-Acheampong limped off just a few minutes into his debut at Hereford last weekend, the understandable response was that Torquay United’s injury curse had taken a cruel new twist.

The Gulls have been severely hampered by a lengthy injury list for the past couple of months and striker Ofori-Acheampong, returning for his second spell at Plainmoor, was recruited to plug some gaps in the vanguard.

Thankfully, however, the injury is not as serious as first feared and, along with others recovering in the treatment room, Duane’s return could bring a spell where manager Gary Johnson has the joy of selection options, with a couple possibly available for Saturday’s visit from Dover Athletic.

“Things didn’t go our way with poor old Duane getting injured after a couple of minutes but his injury is not too bad,” said Johnson.

“It looked a bad one but it’s not as much as first thought, so he probably won’t be injured for too long. He’s a bit happier with himself and the situation.

“We worked him all day Friday, looked at bits and pieces from his previous games and we were totally confident. Originally, he wasn’t going to start but he did so well on the Friday in training that we thought he could start. It’s not a fatigue thing if you go down within a minute of the game starting.

“There are a couple of lads who could be back before the weekend and the others have started working on the pitch. A couple are available for selection and three or four others have still got a week or two.

“The players that are injured are the players you are looking for – they are all of an experienced age.

“If we bring in people now for the sake of the next month or so, our squad will be too big, because our squad’s not too bad, as they’ve proved when they have been playing. You can’t sign players for the sake of it.”