March 27 2005

Iain Dowie

Crystal Palace defender Gonzalo Sorondo is a major doubt for next Saturday's vital clash against Middlesbrough after limping off during the match at Stamford Bridge, by Stuart Pink.

Iain Dowie revealed that the Uruguayan had received a small tweak on his medial ligament during the first half.

Despite trying to play on, he was replaced halfway through the second half.

Dowie said: "He said it was fine, he wanted to go with it.

"But it's a big game and when you're in the game you're in the game mode, you're not thinking about three games further down the line."

The 25-year-old, who is on a season-long loan at Selhurst Park from Inter Milan, has been a revelation in the middle of the Palace defence this campaign, and has forged an impressive partnership with Fitz Hall. The Palace medical staff now face a race against time to get the defender fit in time for the Boro match.

But if he fails to recover, Dowie feels the Eagles have got enough strength in depth to cope.

Dowie said: "He'll have intensive treatment, light strengthening work, electro- therapy and we'll just encourage his muscle if we can.

"It will be a big blow, but we should have Mark Hudson back, Poppa back fit after the operation on his hand and we should have Powelly back fit so we should be strong in there."

Sorondo's former Inter Milan teammate NICOLA VENTOLA joined in light training for the first time on Monday since his recovery from an ankle injury.

VENTOLA, who has been out for six months, is scheduled to play his first reserve game at the start of April.

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