Johnson's season over

Confirmation of the expected:

"We are really disappointed for Michael, he has had a terrible run of injuries and this has come from a very innocuous situation in training. His foot caught in the turf, the knee hyperextended and he has done significant damage.

"His season is over, he had worked really hard to get back to a level where I was considering him for games again, certainly at this busy Christmas period and he was very much in our thoughts.

"He is not going to be available for quite some time and it is going to be difficult for him. He showed real strength of character to come through the year out that he had last year, he will have the operation on the 21st and he'll have landmarks to get through with his rehab after then."

The only plus point at this stage is that it is a new injury, rather than a recurrence of a previous problem, which does at least provide some hope of a full return to action.