North End rocked by Fuller blow

The Jamaican international has sustained a cruciate knee ligament injury and faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines.

Fuller picked up the knock after falling awkwardly in his team's 2-1 victory at Coventry last weekend.

Initial tests showed that the injury was not too serious, but the full extent of the injury has been revealed after he underwent surgery.

"Ricardo had the operation on Wednesday and it revealed that the cruciate ligament was three-quarters removed," Preston physio Andrew Balderston told the club's official website.

"This will require an operation to reconstruct the cruciate knee ligament and he will be out for the rest of the season."

Deepdale boss Craig Brown admitted it was a major blow to lose Fuller, and that he enquired about Aston Villa striker Peter Crouch only to be told he was not fit enough to play.

"It's a massive blow for us, but we have a very good forward in David Healy who has been waiting for his chance and we have Richard Cresswell too," said Brown.

"I did enquire about the availablilty of Aston Villa's Peter Crouch, but he too is injured so they won't be able to loan him out."