Mystery over Di'Shon Bernard setback - Sheffield Wednesday injury latest including Pierce Charles
The long-awaited return of Sheffield Wednesday star man Di’Shon Bernard has suffered a further setback - with a nervous wait ahead on its seriousness.
This week marked a full year since the Jamaica international last played, suffering a serious knee injury in a match at West Brom last February. The issue, which has required more than one bout of surgery, has seen his return date cruelly pushed back on a handful of occasions as he continues his rehabilitation. It was hoped to be possible he could edge towards return to action sometime next month.
Mystery surrounds the seriousness of a setback suffered on Wednesday and it seems there will be tests undertaken in the coming days to determine any fresh return date. The hope is that the problem is not a major one. Beyond the 15 matches remaining in the Owls’ doomed campaign, Jamaica still have a chance of qualifying for this summer’s World Cup.
Speaking to The Star the following day ahead of this weekend’s visit of Millwall, Owls boss Henrik Pedersen said: “He had a little setback yesterday, and we have to see what that means, so I think in one, two, three days, then we'll know more. For him, he was in a good development, but there was a little setback yesterday, but I cannot say it's a small thing or what it is.”
Beyond Bernard there are a host of other injuries of differing return dates. Pedersen offered updates on the recoveries of wing-back Sean Fusire, star goalkeeper Pierce Charles and midfielder Nathaniel Chalobah, with defender Dominic Iorfa seemingly the next player back.
“Sean will be back in two, three weeks, something around there,” the Dane said. “We hope Dominic will soon be back again. Pierce will maybe take three, four weeks. Chalobah maybe two, three, four weeks.”
Another long-term defensive absentee is youngster Ernie Weaver, who became something of a rising star in his nine senior appearances in senior football during his rookie season. He last featured in October and it was initially seen that he would be touch and go for a possible outing in the final matches of the season. That seems to be improbable as focus shifts on preparing him for an attempted return to the Championship next season.
“No, I think he will be fit in the middle of April, so I don't think we will see him, sadly,” Pedersen said. On further injuries he said: Max (Lowe) got his setback in January, so I think we are still six weeks away from seeing him again. George (Brown) will be the second or third week of March, if everything is top.
“We are working so hard, those boys, because they have so big hunger to come back and support the other boys. So we are frustrated and motivated at the same time, because for them it's also awful to stay at the side line, instead of to help, support and do everything that would get a better result.”