Fleetwood Town head coach Simon Grayson has confirmed that Brad Halliday is set to miss the rest of the season with a knee ligament injury.

Town boss spoke of his disappointment in losing Halliday as he was very keen to be working with him during the campaign.

“We had sad news over the weekend that Brad Halliday has done his ACL in the last few minutes at Sheffield Wednesday, so that will probably be him out for the rest of the season”, Grayson told the Blackpool Gazette.

“I’m so sorry for the kid and I’ve been really excited about working with him."

Grayson will now look to bring in a replacement in the final week of the transfer window.

“I’ll be disappointed if we don’t get anybody in because Andy has indicated resources are available.

“We are working on a couple of things."

Replacements aside, the former Leeds United gaffer is hopeful of a strong recovery for Halliday, post surgery.

“The injury is not easy to accept but he has good people around him.

“He’ll get the operation done and hopefully come back stronger.”

Despite the injury blow for Grayson, his men managed to pick up their first points of the season on Saturday after a 3-2 win over Cheltenham.

The game had an enthralling end as there were 3 goals scored between both sides in the final 10 minutes. Leading 2-1, the Cod Army we’re pegged back on 87 minutes but a late 90th minute strike from Shayden Morris earned the home side all three points.

Coming into this match Fleetwood had lost all four of their previous games both in the league and cup. So naturally confidence would have been low and Grayson was proud of the way his players refused to give up and go on to claim the victory.

He said: “That was the big thing for us. I genuinely believe we have a really good, honest bunch of players, who stick together through thick and thin.

The Verdict

There is never really a good time for a manager to be told he has an injured player and further, that he will be without that player for the rest of the season.

So for Grayson, to have a player of Halliday’s experience within the division get a season-ending injury now, only four games in, is nothing short of a nightmare.

However, the Cod Army have now got off the mark for the season and the weekend’s result may just calm the nerves of the fans who would have been fearing the worst after a dreadful start to the campaign.

Although the team will be looking to push on after Saturdays win without Halliday, it would be ideal for Grayson to identify a replacement for his injured summer signing sooner rather than later.