Stafford Rangers striker Dan Cockerline could face the rest of this season out due to dislocated shoulder

The forward was absent from Stafford’s last Northern One West outing against Trafford after sustaining his injury against Chasetown on November 9.

Manager Dale Belford moved to sign Andre Wright on loan from Stratford Town to fill his absence and revealed that Cockerline could face a lengthy period on the sidelines with it being a reoccurring injury.

Asked if Cockerline is likely to be out for a while, Belford said: "It’s looking like it.

"It’s a problematic shoulder anyway, I think it’s the third time that he as dislocated it and the last time he did was on Boxing Day when he was playing for Nantwich against us and he came off with the same issue.

"Early signs at the moment are that it could potentially need surgery. If it does then we could be looking at him being out for the season.

"We’re just monitoring it at the moment, he’s been for a scan and I think we will know more towards the back end of this week where he is.

"At the moment though it’s not good. Dan has been brilliant for us since the start of the season and has been one of the success stories even with the difficult start we’ve had.

"It will be one that we need to replace. But we have Andre Wright in who has done well so let’s see how things progress with that."

The Rangers sit 20th in the league standings, four points adrift from safety. 

They return to action on Saturday welcoming basement boys City of Liverpool after their visit to Runcorn Linnets was postponed last weekend due to an unplayable surface. 

"We’re in a position now where I think we have the squad that we’ve been looking for," added Belford. 

"There’s been a lot of discussions and things going on in the background that go unnoticed sometimes.

"We feel now with a few tweaks here and there, I think there has been 12 players in and out, so things need to settle down. We’ve got the squad to get results it’s about finding that formula to find that."