February 23 2006

Jon Macken

Crystal Palace striker Jon Macken is hoping his troublesome back problems are not as bad as first feared after picking up his fourth injury of the campaign last Tuesday, by Stuart Pink.

The ex-Manchester City striker's season has been blighted by niggling injuries, with the latest setback coming against QPR last week when he was forced off after only 15 minutes of the Valentine's Day clash.

The reccurring problems led Eagles boss Iain Dowie to admit his concern over Macken's availability for the remainder of the season, but the Palace striker feels the problem can be put down to him pushing his body too far in his attempts to win a regular place in the Palace starting line-up.

Macken said: "Hopefully it's not as serious as being reported. When people are playing and training, and pushing themselves, you stiffen up and you suffer a reaction.

"It was a little bit of reaction to all the games we've had over the past few weeks. We felt it would be a precautionary measure to take me off.

"It's gone tight around my hamstring and the inflammation may be caused by my back."

The 28-year-old has started running with Eagles physio Paul Caton and revealed the treatment he's receiving this week will determine whether he will be available for Saturday's clash with Norwich City.

Macken is desperate for a run of games to show why Iain Dowie paid £750,000 to lure him from Manchester City in the summer and start scoring the goals many thought he would rack up at Championship level.

Macken said: "It's frustrating for me and for everybody else. It's a situation that I didn't want to happen, but I've just got to get one with it.

"I just want to start playing regularly again and scoring goals. I need a bit of stability and that's when I can get my season going."

Other Palace absentees from last Saturday's game against Millwall will be looking to prove their fitness ahead of Saturday's clash.

Andrew Johnson, Marco Reich, Aki Riihilahti and Tony Popovic are all back in training and looking to return, but are all said to be facing a 50/50 chance of being fit in time.

The Eagles attempts to secure an automatic promotion place look to be slipping away as second placed Sheffield United currently lie 17 points ahead.

And the Eagles still have some work to do to confirm their play-off place. Seventh placed Cardiff are only five points behind Dowie's men so any slip-up could prove costly as the season enters crunch time.

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