Frank Lampard fears Coventry City goalkeeper Oliver Dovin may have suffered a serious knee injury after the player went down awkwardly under a challenge in his area at Bramall Lane.
The 22-year-old is still being assessed and will go for scans for what the Sky Blues boss admitted may well be knee ligament damage – the big concern being that it could be a season-ending ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) tear, which can take up to nine months to recover from.
Dovin went down in the box just minutes after Sheffield United scored their second goal in a comprehensive 3-1 defeat in South Yorkshire by the Blades whose result moved them ahead of Leeds United in the race for the Championship title.
The Sweden international was treated on the field by City’s medical staff for several minutes before the stretcher was called on and Dovin carried off, replaced by Brad Collins who went on and made a couple of decent saves in a difficult game, albeit completely exposed for United’s third after the break.
Asked what Dovin has done, Lampard said: “We don’t know yet. It’s a knee injury to be asessed.”
But the head coach admitted: “I am bit concerned about it but we don’t know enough about it yet.”
Asked if it appears to be a knee ligament injury, the 46-year-old said: “Yeah, possibly. I didn’t see what happened but obviously it’s a concern but we’ll have to see.”
Dovin only returned from international duty this week after stepping up from Sweden’s Under-21s to join the senior squad, taking his place on the bench for two friendly games against Luxembourg and Northern Ireland during the international break.
Interestingly, Coventry’s outfield injuries and illness to senior players saw Ben Wilson also among the substitutes at Sheffield United, and will clearly be required in the final seven games along with Collins.
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