Little faces three months out

Young Wolves defender Mark Little is facing a three-month lay-off after tearing his cartilage.

The former England under-19s right-back has been forced to cut short his loan spell at Northampton after initially playing on with the "bucket-handle" injury before not being able to straighten his leg.

The 20-year-old, forced out of right-back contention because of Kevin Foley's ultra-consistent form, is now set to miss a chunk of the season.

Little said: "I went to see a specialist again and a scan revealed I'd got a bucket-handle tear in my cartilage. I had the operation earlier this week and now I'm back at Wolves starting off with the rehabilitation.

"There were two options – to cut a bit of the cartilage away, which probably means two to three weeks out, or to repair the damage which means about three months out.

"The second option is one which can put five years on your career so, as a young player, it's usually the better one to take even though you're out for longer.

"It might be difficult to deal with now but I'm sure I'll look back later in my career and be glad we got it repaired. It's frustrating – a bit of a nightmare really because I was playing regular football and enjoying it."

Little admits he may have worsened the problem after playing on with it for four of the nine games he started in his second loan spell with the Cobblers, which included a Carling Cup win away to Bolton.

He said: "Looking back it probably happened in our Carling Cup game at Sunderland. That's when I first felt the problem but I can't remember a specific point where I got a bang on it, or fell awkwardly in a tackle or anything.

"After the game the knee swelled up but we had it checked out and there didn't seem to be a problem. I just thought that maybe spending five hours on the coach on the way home had contributed to the problem.

"I actually played four games after that and it appeared to have settled down. Then I went in for a tackle against Yeovil and couldn't straighten my leg properly."

"It's going to take time for me to get my head around it – I'm trying to not even to look at the lads training if I'm honest, because I'm on the sidelines.

"It's just a case of getting in and doing my work and starting the recovery process. At least I'm not out for the season and know I will hopefully be back in the New Year."

Wolves head of medical department, Steve Kemp, added: "It was a bizarre one, because although it probably tore there it went into the joint and appeared to heal.

"Mark carried on playing a few more games and developed a few minor niggles. It was then, after seeking specialist opinion and MRI diagnosis, that the surgeon could see the cartilage tear. That needed to be addressed."