Fri 29 Sep - Posted in News
Time to read: 2mins
Gary Rowett believes that Mason Bennett’s injury sustained at Brentford is not as bad as first feared.
The young forward, making his first league start for Derby in four years, sustained a blow to his left knee in the early stages of the 1-1 draw at Griffin Park on Tuesday evening.
He was replaced by Andreas Weimann and left the stadium on crutches as a precautionary measure.
Rowett says the Rams are still waiting to discover the extent of the injury but he is hopeful that it won’t keep the Academy graduate out of action for too long.
“Mason had an x-ray and we don’t think that there is an obvious fracture in there, so that’s good news,” he told RamsTV.
“We are just making sure over the next few days that ligaments are okay and are stable - so it doesn’t look quite as bad as we first feared.
“He has had a trauma to the knee. There is quite a bit of swelling in there so we will see how it settles down and once it does we’ll have a better indication.”
After spells out on loan and being sidelined due to injury in recent seasons, Bennett has forced his way back into the first-team frame under Rowett.
He scored in the recent Carabao Cup Second Round tie at Barnsley and also penned a new contract earlier this month.
The Derby boss admitted he was disappointed to see Bennett forced off so early after earning his place in the starting line-up.
He said: “It was a big blow on his first league start for four years, he started really brightly, it was a really innocuous challenge and it’s really disappointing for him.
“Hopefully he won’t be out for too long and the initial prognosis is around four to six weeks.”
