John McDermott Tells What Happened!

By: Bill Osborne
Date: 28/09/2001

MARINERS' full back John Mc Dermott gave his account of the injury he suffered in the Gillingham game saying he feared he had suffered an horrendous broken leg. Fortunately that was not the case but he has a major injury with a badly torn calf muscle.

In an interview with Stuart Rowson of the Grimsby Telegraph he said: "I tried to push off and it caught in the grass. My whole leg locked and it was cramping for five or six minutes. I thought the bone had come through the back of my leg it was that bad," he said of the moment he picked up the injury.

"I don't how long I'll be out. I had an MRI scan on Wednesday and that showed the worst. I have got to see a specialist next week and I need an operation to repair it. I was just starting to feel really fit and I was enjoying it, then this comes along. I thought my long term injuries were behind me. I'm devastated, but you have to put things into perspective. I'll have the op sometime next week, the sooner the better.

"It's put a strain on the side and there's a massive game coming up with Liverpool. I'm sad I'll miss that but at least I've had the opportunity to play there before," he said, referring to the 3-0 defeat at Anfield in the same competition in 1997.

"We need to start having a go again. We didn't take anything for granted at the beginning and we were right on top of teams and in their faces. The last few games teams have been giving us that respect and let us dictate the pace a bit.

"In the past we have bombed teams and took our chances but maybe the luck has dried up on us as well. Before the ball would be bouncing off the bar and in, and now it's started bouncing off and getting cleared."

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