The 25-year-old creative midfield talent has missed both the 1-1 home draw with Swansea City and the 2-2 away result at Sincil Bank as the Shrimpers failed to defeat Lincoln City with a niggling knee problem, that he revealed has caused him trouble in the past. “I’ve had problems with the knee for a while”, he said. “It’s quite swollen and I’ve burst a capsule apparently”.
However, the Edmonton-born playmaker, who is integral to the Seasiders’ hopes of recording a victory in their first ever national final, is hopeful of being fit enough to adorn the Millennium Stadium pitch. “I trained yesterday, I did a bit of ball work and it felt OK to be honest. It’s feeling fine and at the moment I would say there is a 75 per cent chance I’ll be playing on Sunday”, he declared.
Gower continued to assert that he valued the League campaign as more important, “I’d be gutted to miss out, but I’ve been gutted at missing the last two games as well to be honest. We’re scrapping for points and I want to be out there helping the rest of the lads”.
The man who set up all four of the Shrimpers goals in the area semi-final against Queens Park Rangers in January, and who netted a fantastic extra time strike to see them climb over Bristol Rovers in the very first round, then told of the freakish circumstances which aggravated the injury. “I was holding my little girl and she dropped the blanket she likes to sleep with. I bent back to pick it up for her but I bent back awkwardly and my knee has been sore ever since”.
But Gower, who has a League Cup medal to his name after appearing twice in Tottenham Hotspur’s winning campaign in the late nineties, is confident of a swift return: “I’ve been working hard to get back fit though and fingers crossed it’s looking like I’ll be able to play on Sunday”. Every Southend United fan certainly shares those sentiments.
Robert Craven
www.thelittlegazette.com