AFC Telford sweating on Jack Rea injury

Rea was one of a number of casualties from the Shropshire Senior Cup clash with Market Drayton Town on Saturday.

Assistant manager Larry Chambers also revealed that Micah Evans should be OK to recover for the visit of Birmingham City's Under-21 side on Saturday.

However, Dwayne Samuels is unlikely to be fit while Rea is more of a concern. Chambers said: "Jack Rea is struggling and he's a concern, because we don't really know bad it is.

"The physios looked at him on Tuesday night and they'll probably know more in the coming days.

"It was a tackle in the first-half against Drayton and his knee's blown up and he doesn't feel happy in himself, so we'll know more later in the week.

"Micah Evans tweaked his hamstring on Saturday, we're just resting him and he should be OK.

Dwayne Samuels got a dead leg against Drayton too, it wasn't a great game for us really, again it's just a muscle injury and I'd like to think he'd be OK for the weekend.

"Dwayne is the only one of the three I think will be OK for Birmingham."

The knee injury is not thought to be a repeat of the serious problem that forced Rea to miss a number of months last summer – including the whole of pre-season.

After signing from Guiseley in January 2015, Rea featured just five times before picking up the injury.

But the busy midfielder recovered early on in last season's National League North campaign and was an important first-team star under Rob Smith and Chambers, ending the season as skipper.

He added: "It's a different injury this time for Jack. I think we're pretty sure that it's not as bad. but It might be ligaments, it could be cartilage but we'll know more soon."

"I want it sorted as quickly as it can be to know the extent. But Jack knows his body and we'll make sure that he sees the best physios.

We're all guessing at the moment but we'll know more at the end of the week and we'll make a decision. Fingers crossed he'll be OK."