Shrewsbury Town want to put off Luke Summerfield's op until summer

Shrewsbury's medical staff suspect the midfielder, 24, will eventually need surgery to cure the condition.

But boss Graham Turner wants the former Cheltenham man, who has been an influential cog in his struggling side, to wait until the end of the campaign before going under the knife.

Summerfield's problem is one of several injury headaches for the Town boss ahead of Saturday's trip to Crawley Town.

Luke Rodgers and Cameron Gayle have picked up ankle and groin injuries respectively, although both may be fit for the Broadfield Stadium clash.

"Luke Summerfield looks like he is carrying what is the start of a hernia, but he is able to carry on at the moment," said Turner.

"Obviously, there are degrees of pain, but he will play on. He will have to have surgery in the end, but I've known players who can carry on with that until the end of the season without problems."

Summerfield has already demonstrated his high pain threshold when returning at Leyton Orient last month with his thumb strapped after suffering a dislocation at Hereford just seven days previously.

Meanwhile, loan defender Gayle has returned to parent club West Brom for treatment and is more of a doubt than Rodgers, who was forced to miss six days of training after turning his ankle.

"Cameron's got an injury in a very painful place and it could be touch and go," added Turner.

"But Luke is not too far off and I think he will be fit." With Julian Bennett's loan having been cut short, Gayle's absence would restrict Turner's defensive options further, although it could offer Connor Goldson an opportunity to make his first start of the season.

"Connor is on the fringe of things and if he gets an opportunity he'll be ready to take it whether it's full-back or centre-half," added Turner, who could also deploy the fit-again Paul Parry in a full-back role.

The former Welsh international has managed to complete a week of training after recovering from a hip injury.

And Turner was delighted with how his side's morale-boosting trip to RAF Shawbury went.

"It was a good day and the players worked very hard," he said.

"The PTIs there and powers-that-be had a day set up for the players which was a variety of hard work, endurance and mental tests."