Morpeth Town hit with injury blow ahead of new season as Danny Barlow is ruled out
Danny Barlow will miss the start of the season through injury.
The Morpeth midfielder was hurt in the friendly against Caledonian Braves and may be out of action for some time.
“We’ve lost Danny which is a massive blow for us.
“He’s going to be out for a good few months I’d imagine, which is massive,” boss Craig Lynch told Highwaymen TV.
The club are also looking to bring in some more players ahead of the campaign and have signed defender Dan Myers.
“We know we’ve got a small squad, we know we need three or four more in, but we’re not rushing and we’ll get the right players in,” said Lynch after his side went down to a 3-1 defeat by Championship side Middlesbrough’s u21s last Tuesday evening, with Nic Bollado heading the second half consolation.
“There’s still plenty of players out there, with loans; Middlesbrough’s got some great lads there and some of them might find their level with us, we’ve asked them to join, so we know that if you’re a player coming up to us, Fenton (John) did well with us, he’s still at Gateshead in the National League, he’s a full-time footballer, so loans are a key for us.
“We might get one or two permanent ones in if we can, that’s what we’re looking at, and we’ll go from there.”
Lynch felt the ‘Boro game was a good run-out and said: “I thought it was ideal for where we are at in pre-season.
“We’ve had three games up to now where we’ve controlled the ball.
“We looked very good and came up against a team who will have loved playing here. That’s their type of academy pitch and immaculate for them, so it was ideal.
“There were a lot of positives and you’ve got to take the positives out of pre-season, that’s what it’s about. You look and see where you can improve and I’ve said to the lads in the dressing room that we’ll be ready for the Ilkeston game.
“We’ve given 12 academy lads a chance (in pre-season) and they’ve been a massive help for us. We get to have a look at them and they get a look to see where the level is.”
Morpeth take on Dunston UTS at Craik Park in their final pre-season fixture on Friday evening after hosting Gateshead in mid-week.