Elyh Harrison injury blow as Shrewsbury boss says they will take ‘no risks’
Shrewsbury Town will not take any risks with goalkeeper Elyh Harrison for the game against Bromley with the shotstopper nursing a foot injury, says Michael Appleton.
The keeper, who signed on a season-long loan from Manchester United just a few weeks back, picked up a badly bruised foot in Salop’s last pre-season game against Burnley last weekend.
Harrison came off at half-time and was replaced by Toby Savin.
The 19-year-old could be in line to make not just his Shrewsbury debut but also his football league debut this weekend.
His injury is not thought to be one that is going to cause him any issues long term, but Salop boss Appleton says they won’t take any risks with the youngster if he is not quite right.
He said: “Elyh is probably 50-50. If I'm being honest at the minute.
"There are no major issues in terms of long-term, but anyone who's had bone bruising will probably testify that it's sore and obviously in an area where it is on your foot, that takes a while to settle down.
"We're reasonably confident he'll be OK, but what we won't do, and what he won't do, is take any risks.
"If it is one of them where he has to miss a game or two, we'll certainly take that on the chin rather than obviously not being able to compete over a number of months.”
Town have several other players who will be in contention for the visit of Bromley.
Tom Sang, who only arrived this summer after leaving Port Vale, has had a disrupted pre-season after battling with injury niggles.
That has also been the case for former Telford United forward Ricardo Dinanga, but the duo seem to have seen the back of their issues.
The same cannot be said for Max Mata, who suffered a torn hamstring in training before the clash against Burnley.
The New Zealand international had looked really promising in his cameo against Kidderminster, where he scored, but he is now set for a sustained period out of the team.
And Appleton says there is still no timeline for how long the striker is expected to be out for.
"We've got a couple of injuries,” the boss continued. “In terms of Max (Mata), he's going to be out for a while.
"I mentioned that after one of the games recently. We still haven't got a full timeline on that because there was so much swelling in the area and fluid in the area.
"I think he is due to have a scan in the coming days because that fluid has settled down now, so we'll get a better timeline on him.
"Tom Sang seems to have come through his issues and he's trained, Ricardo has done the same.”
Meanwhile, three of Shrewsbury Town's third-year scholars have headed out on loan.
Jack Loughran, who was in the first team squad at the end of last season, has joined Shropshire club Shifnal Town, Karsten Cairns has joined Darlaston (1874) and Joe Morris has signed for Stourbridge.
