Canha back to further hurt North

Midfielder Mollet, who pushed hard for a Muratti spot last season, lay in the pouring rain for nearly half an hour on the KGV 3G as he awaited an ambulance to treat him during stoppage time of North’s 3-2 win over Rangers on Saturday.

There were only 90 seconds left on ref Steve Hutchinson’s watch when the accident occurred, the player going in for a tackle and finding his damaged foot stuck underneath him.

‘They don’t think it is broken,’ said North assistant coach Lee Savident.

‘It possibly dislocated and went back in, which would have caused ligament and Achilles damage,’ he added.

The loss of Mollet is the last thing North need as they prepare to host the champions without a host of players.

Sam Cochrane is also still out with a hamstring, as is Sam Matthews after Saturday. Joby Bourgaize has an Achilles issue and both Alex Le Prevost and Olly McKenzie are away.

On the plus side, Scott Bougourd, Ben Bullock and Aaron Mahieu all return for a game North cannot really afford to lose if they are to stay on the tails of Rovers.

Victory for Rovers would take them seven points clear of what many regard as the most talented starting team in the league. Now they are back on top of the pile, naturally they plan to stay there.

‘It’s a must-win game for us too, to be honest,’ said Rovers coach Jez Robin, adding: ‘as is any game against one of the likely title contenders’.

Carlos Canha will start for Rovers and Louis Graham also returns after an ankle issue kept him out of the Manzur game.

Robin, who is also calling up young Chesney Payne after scoring a hat-trick in Lancaster One, said it was easy to pick his Portuguese star even though he is concentrating on Guernsey FC.

‘It’s a juggling act and not something I want to do regularly. But he was such a big part of last season and is popular with the boys.’

• North v. Rovers kicks off at 7.30pm.