Elphick fears Pope may be out for the season

Pope dislocated and fractured an ankle in Saturday’s friendly with Watford under-21’s at Woodside Road. Rebels were leading 2-0 at the time, before the game was abandoned with 13 minutes left to play. It was hoped that Pope would undergo an operation today but the swelling remains too severe, but the forward is set to undergo surgery in the next couple of days. Elphick admits it is gutting for everyone at the club and said: “It’s a really bad one and everyone feels for Ben at this minute. I’m not too sure how long he will be out but with injuries like this one it could well be the whole season. “It was a real shame because up until he was injured, I felt it was his best game in pre-season so far. “He caused some good defenders a great deal of issues and was looking very good. “We are all behind Ben and wish him all the best in his recovery from the injury.” Worthing’s scheduled home friendly with Petersfield Town at Woodside Road tomorrow has been cancelled. Following several changes at the Southern League Division 1 Central club over the summer, they have decided against fulfilling the fixture. Elphick admits there are no plans in place for a game with his side now using the time to train ahead of Saturday’s final pre-season friendly with Horsham. He added: “If I’m honest it’s a bit of a blessing in disguise after everything that happened on Saturday. “We’ll get the players in for a training session and then prepare ourselves for that final friendly with Horsham.” Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live. Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be amongst the first to know what’s going on. 1) Make our website your homepage 2) Like our Facebook page 3) Follow us on Twitter 4) Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here. And do share with your family and friends - so they don’t miss out! Always the first with your local news. Be part of it.