Cruel blow for Morrison

Clinton Morrison, the Birmingham City FC striker, has been ruled out for the remainder of the season with a dislocated shoulder.

Out of action
Morrison will also miss the Republic of Ireland's two UEFA EURO 2004™ qualifiers against Georgia on Saturday in Tbilisi and Albania the following Wednesday.

Awkward fall
Morrison suffered the injury in an English Premiership match against West Bromwich Albion FC at the weekend when he clashed with Neil Clement and fell awkwardly on his right shoulder. "I am really devastated," Morrison said. "My season is over and I will miss a lot of important games. The timing of this is awful because I enjoy playing for Ireland and will miss playing for Birmingham City too.

'I will be back'
"But I will be out for eight to ten weeks. I will be back though. Hopefully we can stay in the Premiership and I can't wait until next season. The only consolation is I know what this injury is all about because I dislocated my left shoulder when playing for Crystal Palace [FC]. Once I've had the operation, I will have a sling on for four to five weeks and then I can start working on the injury.

Complete accident
Morrison insisted that the injury was a complete accident and absolved Clement of any blame. He said: "I just went up for a ball and landed on the shoulder. It wasn't Neil's fault. It was just the way I landed."

Major risk
Birmingham manager Steve Bruce said: "We could have patched Clinton up and got him out there in a few weeks but there would have been a major risk of the shoulder going again. It is best he has an operation to get it right and I can't see him being available again this season."