Defender's injury is a worry for Wanderers

The veteran defender lasted just 11 minutes of last night's friendly at Southport, leaving the field dejectedly after failing to run off the effects of a painful knock on his right knee.

Wanderers are hoping a closer examination will show only bruising to the joint but the injury is, nevertheless, a concern with just eight days to go to the first Barclaycard Premiership game at Leicester.

Hendry has only recently recovered from an ankle injury he sustained in the Play-off final triumph at Cardiff in May.

His latest setback came on a disappointing night for a Wanderers Xl, who lost 3-1 to the Nationwide Conference side.

Sam Allardyce revised his original plan to field a full-strength senior line-up after seeing many of his Premiership potentials beat Deportivo Alaves 3-2 in a private friendly at Euxton earlier in the day, atoning for the 2-0 defeat by the Spaniards in the official friendly on Tuesday night.

Ricardo Gardner, Akinori Nishizawa and Michael Ricketts got the goals.

Djibril Diawara, Anthony Barness, Paul Warhurst and Kevin Nolan started at Southport but found themselves up against it after losing Hendry and leaking two first half goals that embarrassed Greek trialist goalkeeper, Pitkas Evangelos.

Summer signing, Henrik Pedersen headed his first since arriving in a £650,000 transfer from Danish club Silkeborg just before half time but Southport restored their two-goal advantage on 63 minutes by which time the Wanderers' line-up had a distinctly youthful flavour - apart from the introduction of 35-year-old coach Neil McDonald, who was pressed into service at right back.

WANDERERS (v Southport): PitkasEvangelos (Chris Williams,ht), Anthony Barness (Neil McDonald,63), Alan O'Hare, Djibril Diawara (Nicky Hunt, ht), Colin Hendry (Wayne Buchanan,11), Paul Warhurst (Cigran Rwan, ht), David Norris, Kevin Nolan (Emanu Morini,53), Paul Wheatcroft, Henrik Pedersen, Jeff Smith