JUST when he thought he was over the worst, Gavin Ward found himself back on the casualty list this week.

The luckless Wanderers' keeper had a groin problem when he returned from his three-month loan stint with Burnley, where he did well for the Clarets.

All was going well with his rehabiliation until he developed an abdominal problem, which resulted in him needing a bi-lateral hernia operation.

That confirmed Colin Todd's worst fears. With Keith Branagan still sidelined after his groin operation, the Wanderers boss had no experienced cover for Jussi Jaaskelainen - hence his move for Brikir Kristinsson.

That solves a problem for the manager but leaves Ward as the latest in a line of goalkeepers laid low by groin or hernia problems.

"That's because of all the kicking we've got to do nowadays," says Branagan, reflecting on the advent of the backpass rule.

"Younger keepers won't have the same problem because they'll grow up with it as part of their game. But people like myself, Gav and plenty of others have had to change halfway through our careers and that's what's causing all the trouble.

"Suddenly we're having to adjust to kicking in a different way; we're kicking a moving ball and we're putting strains on different muscles.

"And once you get on the cycle of having these niggling injuries you're in a Catch 22 situation. You want to practice your kicking more but you can't because it aggravates the problem. So you don't kick the ball during the week and when you have to during matches, you end up stiff and sore again."

As in previous seasons, Branagan thought he could soldier on, carrying the odd injury into a game then resting and hoping to get through to the summer without the need for surgery. But, after an operation to sort out a hernia problem in the last close season, he realised he was taking too much of a risk.

"I thought the hernia op might have sorted out the groin because they seem to go hand in hand," he explained. "But I felt twinges after just one game so it seems it's the groin that needs sorting first. We had a meeting with the gaffer and I told him I couldn't guarantee finishing games any more.

"We decided I should have the groin operation now but I was stunned when the specialist said I'd be out 10 to 12 weeks! Then he explained that the abductor muscle, which is what I'd been damaging all this time, was gradually getting shorter. The operation involved cutting it and lengthening it as well as cleaning up the scar tissue.

"It was a big job but it needed doing."

Six weeks after the operation, Branagan is back in light training and expecting to be working with goalkeeping coach Fred Barber again early in the New Year.

"I can't wait," he says, voicing his understandable frustration. "It's killing me having to sit and watch instead of playing!"

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