Talented striker set for lengthy spell on sidelines, but Old Spotted Dog club still full of confidence

Hackney Wick have been dealt an early blow after boss Chris Davis revealed forward Joel Appiah suffered a suspected fractured ankle on Saturday.

The Old Spotted Dog outfit got off to a winning start in the Essex Senior League with a 3-1 victory at Burnham Ramblers.

Magnus Orelaja, Jeffrey Idemudia and Matteo King found the net at Leslie Field Stadium, but Wick lost Appiah after four minutes.

“Our top goalscorer from last season at London Bari fractured a bone in his elbow on Saturday and then three minutes later he had a shot and fell awkwardly and fractured his ankle, so obviously that is not good,” said Davis.

“We have other strikers, but we are losing a lot of goals by not having Joel available and I have no doubt we would have scored more on Saturday had he been fit.”

Appiah scored over 20 times for Bari last season and his good form earned him a move to Brentwood Town.

Wick will have to do without the forward for a significant amount of time now, but they will have plenty of confidence.

Davis was delighted to see his team fight back from a goal down to win at Burnham and admitted Orelaja’s leveller on the stroke of half-time was pivotal.

He added: “The equaliser was crucial. We were starting to panic before that because we had a lot of the play where Burnham were down to 10 men, but they were sitting back and defending very well.

“When it is like that it can either go two ways, they can nick another goal and get the result or you can come back into it.

“Thankfully we got the goal with the last kick of the first half and it gave us the confidence to go and get more.”

Idemudia and King found the net after the break and Wick now sit second in the table after match day one.

Tonight they host Tower Hamlets at the Old Spotted Dog and Davis is hoping to get another victory.

“We definitely want to counter-act the attacking threat they have and try to get another three points,” said the Hackney Wick boss.

“It is easy to say we want to win again, but we need to make sure we perform to stay on the right track.

“We want to get another good result and if we could win six points from six it would be fantastic ahead of our FA Cup match.”