Fletcher brought to heel

Cherries veteran struggling with injury

By Chris Galea   Last updated: 29th July 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Fletcher brought to heel

Fletcher: May miss opener

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Bournemouth striker Steve Fletcher is set miss the start of the new season after injuring his heel in a pre-season friendly.

The 38-year-old veteran limped off in the Cherries' 5-1 victory over Hamworthy Recreation earlier in July and has not been able to train with the team since.

The long-serving centre forward is still an important part of manager Eddie Howe's plans despite his age as the club go into League One, but it appears Howe will have to be without the cult hero for their opener against Charlton on August 7th.

"I've got something called Plantar Fasciitis, which I've been told is pretty common and it affects the heel of your foot," he told skysports.com

Unfortunate

"It gives me terrific pain every time I put my foot down, but one in 10 people get it during some period of their life, so it is just unfortunate for me I've picked it up in pre-season.

"The hard grounds won't have helped with all the jumping up and down etc. I can't run on it without limping, but I'm getting a lot of treatment on it.

"There isn't a specific time-scale on the healing process and it varies between a couple of weeks and a few months.

"I've had it for a fortnight now and it is gradually getting better, but I'm just hoping that one morning I wake up and it has gone.

"Most of the recovery process is rest and massage on the foot, but it is very frustrating not to be able to tell the manager when I will be back up and running."