Lincoln City have been hit with another injury this week, but it’s a situation described by head coach Mark Kennedy as ‘good bad news’.
The Imps have been ravaged by injuries this season, losing both first-team strikers, Ben House and Tyler Walker, within days of each other in early September. Loan striker Jack Vale was signed injured as a calculated gamble, but he exacerbated that injury and has yet to join the team in training on the grass.
Star attacker Danny Mandroiu missed most of September after his nomination for Player of the Month in August, whilst talented Dutch defender Lewis Montsma is not expected to be back until 2024. The last thing they needed was for another first-team player to suffer an injury, but that’s what happened with Danish wing-back Lasse Sorensen.
Sorensen went off injured against Leyton Orient in their game last week, which was abandoned after the tragic passing of supporter Derek Reynolds. Sorensen missed the 2-0 defeat at London Road this weekend and will not feature tonight as the Imps look to arrest a run of five defeats in six matches against Wolves Under 21s.
However, Mark Kennedy believes the prognosis is good news in that the former Stoke man is not out for long.
“We’ve got good news on Lasse,” Kennedy said in his pre-match interview. “He had a grade one hamstring stain, which is a seven to ten-day injury.”
He then warned that those injuries can often turn into more, as with Tyler Walker, who saw a minor strain manifest into ten weeks on the sidelines overnight, but stressed that doesn’t seem to be the case with Sorensen.
“So Lasse is on track, he’s doing well, he’ll be with the medical guys this week, and it’s just a daily conversation. He’s in a good place, it’s good bad news on Lasse.”
Sorensen has been a revelation for the Imps this season after two rather average years at the club. He joined from Stoke City, having previously appeared in League One with MK Dons. He was in and out of the side under Michael Appleton and in the early part of Mark Kennedy’s spell. However, after switching from central midfield to wing back, ironically against MK Dons last season, he has firmly established himself as one of the key players at the LNER Stadium
It’s also good news on Jack Vale, who has joined the Imps squad this week, although he’ll be with Sorensen and the medical team rather than on the grass. It’s reported he’s expected to join first-team training on Monday, as Lincoln finally begin to get some bodies back into the squad.
Writer’s View
Lincoln have been desperately unlucky with injuries; they’ve been forced to play winger Hakeeb Adelakun up front and have looked shot-shy as a result. One bright spark in that spell has been Sorensen, who bagged a brace against Cheltenham, adding to his goal against Notts County in the Carabao Cup. Losing him just took goals away from the team at a time they were really needed.
His spell on the sidelines may be short, but with Burton Albion at the LNER Stadium on Saturday, Kennedy would liked to have had one of his key generals in position for battle. However, that isn’t the case, and City supporters will hope to see the fan-favourite back on the flank very soon.
