Striker Lee Thorpe suffered a freak injury to his arm on the team bus as it headed to Darlington on Saturday. His season already over due to a "deadleg"  the big striker  actually broke his arm in 3 places during a bout of arm wrestling and is now awaiting an operation. Manager Keith Hill explains

" I spoke to Lee yesterday and he was just gutted that it might have made an impact on the players on the day. These things do sometimes happen and we have to take it in our stride and be positive becuase we cannot effect what has happened. We have now got to get on with things and play another football match"

" Lee is an integral part of what we are trying to achieve here and he brings an experience to the squad. It was an unfortunate, freak accident occuring during something that we have been doing all season. It is not something that we have just started to do. No one is to blame and it is certainly not that we are unprofessional but is not something that we will be doing again. We have learned a valuable lesson from what might occur."

" It won't be happening again but I can assure everyone that is something that has gone on all season long and used as a tool for deciding the fate of someone who might have got something wrong, especially in training and has brought a lot of fun and enjoyment at times but a lot of pain on Saturday."

Subscribers to Daleworld heard this interview first and in full
Advertisement