IT’S touch and go whether Dave Allen will play again for AFC Totton this season due to a foot fracture.

The versatile frontman/midfielder has broken the outside of his fifth metatarsal bone – an identical injury to one he sustained at Winchester City five years ago.

Now all he can do is pray that the healing process will be far quicker this time round.

“It’s my other foot this time, the right one,” said Allen. “I went to turn quite sharply and it just went. “When it happened at Winchester, I was out for 16 weeks.

“I told Simon Brice, the physio, and he said ‘really?’. He seems to think it’s potentially seven or eight weeks out.

“I’m going to the fracture clinic today and I’ve got a funny feeling they’ll say ten weeks. That would take us close to the end of the season, but if it’s 16 weeks again that will be it.

“I’ve got a massive plastic ‘cyber’ boot on it this time. Last time I only had cotton wool and a bandage and I kept knocking it which might have delayed the healing process.

“I was a bit worried coming off with it last week because we were 6-0 down and I didn’t want it to look as if I was throwing the towel in, but I couldn’t put any pressure on it.”

Another serious injury is the last thing mid-tableTotton need as they head into tomorrow’s big Southern Premier south coast derby at home to sixth-placed Weymouth.

Their slimline squad has already been shorn of pacy striker Nathaniel Sherborne who broke a leg in a pre-season friendly.

“I was playing up front in place of Nathaniel and now we’re going to be sitting next to each other in the stand,” said Bournemouth-based Allen, 29, who joined Totton from Bashley during the summer.

“Who knows, with the potential Nathaniel’s got, we might have been further up the league had he played from the start of the season.”

Manager Steve Riley has his fingers crossed that winger Mike Gosney will return from back trouble and was yesterday exploring the possibility of loaning a striker from a Football League club.

He said: “When certain players aren’t available, you soon find out how key they are to the squad and Dave is definitely one of those.

“He’s one of our leaders, a very influential player who brings calmness and composure and a bit of experience.

“The other players have got to stand up and be counted as we look to get last Saturday’s performance out of our system.

“We’ve seen the highs and lows lately, beating the leaders Hemel Hempstead at home and then losing heavily at Chesham, who are the best team we’ve played. We’ve got to get back to basics and try and keep our home record going.”