Just when Plymouth find themselves back at the top of League One, defender James Bolton looks to have suffered a hamstring setback after being substituted during the first half of the Pilgrims’ 2-0 win away to Accrington Stanley on Tuesday night.
The 28-year-old has been on the sidelines for the majority of his two seasons in Plymouth, with ankle and foot injuries keeping him off the pitch. Making his first league start of the season just this past weekend against Forest Green Rovers, the defender looks set to have another spell rehabbing.
While clearing the ball out for a throw-in just before the half-hour mark into the game, the defender seemed to twist awkwardly. After a brief assessment from the club’s physio, Bolton soon exited the pitch towards the away dug-out.
Bolton was replaced by Dan Scarr in the centre of defence, who he himself was coming back from a foot injury sustained at the beginning of February.
Argyle is still waiting to find out the severity of the hamstring injury, but it comes at a crucial part of the season.
After defeating Accrington and Sheffield Wednesday also losing to Barnsley in the process, Plymouth sit atop the League One table, two points clear of their closest challengers Wednesday.
With eight points separating the top-4 spots and the Pilgrims playing up to two extra games than their competitors, the scene has been set for a close finish to see who gains promotion to the Championship.
Argyle manager Steven Schumacher spoke after the game addressing the injury, he said: “James Bolton, unfortunately, looks like he has done his hamstring. I’m not sure how serious that is. We will assess that on Thursday.
It’s frustrating. Obviously you want your good players (available), and Bolts has proved when he plays he’s a good player, but he has some terrible luck with injuries.”
Writer’s View
Bolton has had to deal with a lot of tough injuries during his time at the League One Club, so as a football fan, it’s a shame to see him injured again.
A lot of the time when players find themselves constantly picking up injuries over and over again, it’s more of the mental part which is tricky to deal with. For Bolton’s sake, I hope he’s able to come back stronger and get a good start to the season next year.
