Morecambe defender Dugdale to miss a couple of weeks with ankle injury

The new signing came down heavily on his ankle with the problem feared to be one that could rule him out for months rather than weeks.

But boss Jim Bentley hopes the former Crewe and Tranmere man will only by unavailable for a couple weeks after a positive scan.

Bentley said: “It was a bit of a freak accident in training.

“Kevin Ellison smashed a shot and it hit a defender and rebounded into Adam Dugdale as he was jumping and it knocked him off balance and he came down and turned his ankle.

“He’s on crutches but the results back from the scan are quite positive and we expect that he’s only going to be out for two, maybe three, weeks.

“We were worried that he’d ruptured his ankle and it was going to be a one or two month job but thankfully that’s not the case.”

Elsehwhere on the injury front Paul Mullin went off at half-time against Nantwich after scoring four with a tight thigh while Shaun Beeley and Jack Kelleher were rested due to hamstring niggles.

Bentley said: “He (Mullin) could have probably played on but if you have a slight niggle like that and then he rips it completely he’ll be out for two or three weeks and it’s not worth it.

“We’ve got one or two in there like that. Because of the workload they’re doing it’s going to happen.

“Jack Kelleher should be alright after having a tight hamstring on Friday against Bury and before he came to the club Beels had a lot of hamstring problems.

“Last season he played a large percentage of the minutes and got the player of the year and was a big player for us.

“We’re just trying to marry up with exactly what we did with him last pre-season to make sure we give him the platform he needs to go and perform like he did last season.”