Dunfermline Press | Sport | Mystery back injury prolongs Shields’ absence

Thursday, 4th December, 2008

Published: Thursday, 1st November, 2007 09:15

Mystery back injury prolongs Shields’ absence

KEY defender Greg Shields admits he still doesn’t know what’s wrong with him two months after he last kicked a ball for the Pars.

Shields hasn’t played since limping out of Athletic’s 1-0 UEFA Cup defeat to BK Hacken in Gothenburg.

At the time it was thought the defender was suffering from a hamstring strain but a subsequent scan revealed that was caused by a disc problem in his back.

Now, nearly a month after the scan, Shields admits he is no closer to knowing why he’s suffering pain.

“I could maybe get by with a disc problem but I want to know why there’s a caving-in effect,” the 31-year-old told Press Sport this week.

“Every time I’m out jogging it’s like my stomach is falling to the floor and my back’s caving in.

“Obviously, I’ve got a problem but I don’t know what the problem is and that’s what’s annoying me.

“I tried to come back before the Partick Thistle game but I said to the manager I wasn’t right.

“Because you’re training, people think you’re fit but I was nowhere near. It’s pretty clear I’m not right and it’s frustrating.

“The next step is to see someone. I did feel better on Monday when Gerry (McCann, Pars physio) examined me but I know it’s still there and when I do a lot of things I’m still getting the same symptoms.

“I’ve been injured before but I’ve known what’s wrong before. This time, I don’t really know why my back’s sinking in and how I get that back to normal.

“I just hope I can find out sooner rather than later.”

His enforced absence has proved tough to take for Shields, who revealed that he first noticed a niggle before the 4-1 victory over Motherwell at the end of last season.

The defender was in the stands at Stirling on Saturday and he said, “It’s not that I think I could do any better but when you are injured you want to be one of the players making an effort, trying to do things the right way.

“A lot of the time it’s just not working for the majority of people in the squad.

“I know, I have played in games like that (Stirling) and they are hard to play in.

“I spoke to one of the boys after the game who said they were trying to do everything right but it’s not working.

“Everyone at the club is getting scrutinised and I can’t put my finger on it.

“We’ve got good players but we don’t seem to be playing well as a team for whatever reason, I don’t know why. It will come out in the wash.”

He admitted the players were aware of the speculation surrounding boss Stephen Kenny’s future but said, “We don’t know anything at all, we just read what’s in the papers.

“After games other people talk and everyone’s talked a lot recently, everyone’s got an opinion and there’s a lot of speculation. I don’t have a clue what’s going to happen.”

Asked whether he felt the players weren’t playing for the manager, he said, “You will always get people saying that, who maybe think that by looking at performances but we’ve just not played well.

“The last two games have been two horrendous results and we’re all there to be scrutinised and shot at.

“The results are demoralising, they have to be, everyone thought there would be a reaction after Hamilton, especially against a team like Stirling. I thought we would beat Stirling.”

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