It took a lot of hard work for Derrick Spencer to fight his way back into the Kaizer Chiefs starting eleven, and after recently winning the battle and receiving his first start of the season when Chiefs were triumphant against Mamelodi Sundowns on the first of this month.

It was a game where in he also managed to pick up the man of the match award, and was really impressive in Chiefs following league matches against Amazulu and Santos. In a bizarre twist of fate all of Spencer’s hard work seems to have been undone by an injury that befell the hard working defender at the midway point of Chiefs 4-2 win over Golden Arrows on Wednesday evening.

Year end

From initial medical reports it would seem that the hamstring injury, which forced Derrick Spencer from the field on Wednesday evening, could be severe enough to ensure that he will be unable to feature in Chiefs remaining matches this year against Bloemfontein Celtic and Black Leopards. Chiefs physiotherapist David Milner said on Thursday morning of Spencer injury problems, “from our point of view it looks like he will have to sit out the remaining matches for this year. We will have a full medical report by the end of business on Thursday or early Friday, with the kind of injury he has we can expect him to start training again in the New Year”.

Gutted

For Spencer the injury could not have come at a worse time as he had seen a lift in form and had won his place back in the starting eleven, speaking to kaizerchiefs.com Spencer who was still in a lot of pain on Thursday afternoon said. “This is really disappointing for me given the fact that I was beginning to enjoy my game and was featuring regularly, I am absolutely gutted at the fact that I will miss our remaining games in 07. I can though take solace from the fact that we are not playing any matches after this until February next year, which means I will be fit enough to play when league action resumes next year”.

Pain

Kaizerchiefs.com caught up with Spencer just after a visit to a specialist on Thursday and spoke about the pain he was undergoing, he added “overnight and throughout the morning I was and still am in a lot of pain. The doctor said that he could not fully assess the damage, as I needed to still give it time to settle, he will give me a clearer indication as to what exactly is the problem a bit later. Right now though I am in a lot of pain and am having some difficulty walking around”.