Imps Injury Blow As Key Man Ruled Out For Season

Credit Graham Burrell

City have received news this afternoon that midfielder Ethan Hamilton has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a thigh injury.

As per a tweet by BBC Radio Lincolnshire’s Rob Makepeace, the former Manchester United midfielder will play no further part in the campaign after struggling for the last couple of weeks. It’s another blow for City, who haven’t had the best of luck with injuries this season.

The 25-year-old has appeared 37 times for the Imps across all competitions this season, scoring three goals. Two of those were winners in away matches, one which gave us a controversial 1-0 win at Brisbane Road against Leyton Orient.

Hamilton picked up his injury in the days after the 1-0 win at Burton but seemingly made a comeback against Exeter City, playing the full 90 minutes in our 1-0 win. However, he has since missed the trip to Port Vale and this week’s 3-0 win against Shrewsbury, and it seems he will now play no further part in the campaign.

For once, luck is a little on our side – we added Conor McGrandles in the transfer window, and he’s been a revelation alongside Ethan Erhahon, meaning that it is the depth we have lost rather than an integral part of the first team. That’s not to say Ethan wasn’t vital – he was, but McGrandles’ capture does soften the blow somewhat. That is if he makes it to the game as well.

Credit Graham Burrell

“Connor’s actually struggling a little bit,” Michael Skubala said in his pre-match interview. “He’s had to go for a scan today, so he finished the game, but he’s touch and go.

“It could be something, could be nothing. He finished the game and then had a slight niggle. We think it’s a slight niggle, but we don’t know, again, could be another injury, but everybody else has come through.”

If McGrandles is injured as well, it breaks up a growing partnership between him and Ethan Erhahon. Still, it wouldn’t be unlike our luck – with Jack Burroughs also out, we’d once again see the concentration of injuries in a single position, although Jack is one who can play midfield, rather than being a first choice.

Credit Graham Burrell

As for Ethan, it doesn’t sound promising at all.

“He’s going to be out for quite some time, and we wish him all the best. I know the medical team will work really hard to just do the best by him. But yeah, the scan didn’t go great, and what they found was not great. So yeah, I think we were not going to see him for the rest of the season.”

Ethan joined us in the summer for an undisclosed fee from Accrington Stanley and quickly became a firm favourite with supporters. This is the first season that he won’t have experience promotion or relegation with a side (unless we keep our late charge up). In 2019, he appeared for relegated Rochdale, and in 2020 played for Bolton as they were relegated. In 2021, he was promoted to the Championship with Peterborough and played a very small role as they were relegated the following season. In 2023, he endured another relegation, this time with Accrington.

Of course, there is still a chance he could keep that record up…..

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