SWANAGE Town & Herston have lost centre-back Ogun Gundogdu to a freak injury which has also left them needing to repair one of the goal frames at Days Park.
The Swans were drawing 0-0 with Dorchester Sports in the Jewson Dorset Premier League last Saturday when Gundogdu collided with a post when trying to clear the ball in the 12th minute.
The defender was left in a heap and with damaged ribs, later taking himself to hospital to get seen to, while the upright was left cracked, meaning referee Neil Lewis had no choice but to abandon the match.
Spokesman Gerald Dimarco still doesn't know quite whether player or post came off worst. “In over 50 years in football, I've never seen anything like it, that's for sure,” said the long-serving Swanage man after yesterday's game was also called off. “I've seen players run into posts of course but never crack one like this. Our man concern is Oggy as he badly damaged his ribs and at the time, we were frightened to move him just in case.
“When a player goes down like that, you just don't know what's happened to them. It was certainly unusual and as we were only 12 minutes in, we will have to replay the game at a later date.”
Dimarco admitted Gundogdu's welfare was the Swans' priority in the aftermath of the collision, with the defender such a key part of manager Jamie Smith's plans.
Gundogdu, who returned to Days Park from rivals Merley Cobham Sports last season and is a regular under Smith, who took over in the summer, will be out for the early part of 2024.
“It looks as if Oggy will be our for a month or two, which is a real shame for him and from a team point of view but it's important he's able to work and that's what is important,” he added.
“He has to look after himself and it was a big shock to us when it happened, especially as it was so unusual.”
Dimarco has spent this week working on a solution to the goal frame issue that the club are facing with Westland Sports set to visit on Saturday.
Smith's men have enjoyed a very promising campaign, boosted in recent weeks by the comeback of long-serving talisman Paul Best, and the goals of Cody Moore and Ocean Smith, which have catapulted them towards the top of the table, and look set for a fine end to 2023.
He said: “We have a welder coming in so we will look to replace the goal, or weld it up. The problem is the incident could have shaken the concrete post in the ground. The league have been very good about it. I've spoken to them and they're happy for us to solve the issue as best we can. We need to just see what we can do now.
“After waiting a long time for some home matches, we now have a few coming up! But we're well ahead on our fixtures so the fixture list is not a huge concern to us currently.”
