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Josh Cullen can start smiling again – his tooth is back in place!
The midfielder had it knocked out after receiving a high boot to the face from Shrewsbury Town captain Abu Ogogo during yesterday’s FA Cup tie
After the tooth was recovered and Cullen waited to replace his bloodied shorts, Stuart Pearce urged him to re-enter the game in his underpants!
He eventually finished the game and was then driven to hospital where the tooth was replaced in the youngster’s mouth and held in place with a splint.
Cullen told the official website: “The Doc found the tooth and put it in a cup of milk as the calcium helps to keep the tooth alive and as healthy as possible
“A member of the Shrewsbury groundstaff took me to hospital straight after the final whistle, so I’d like to thank them, as well as the medical staff at the hospital for being top-class when I got there.
“They put the tooth back in and fitted me with a little brace to keep it in place, so I haven’t got a gap, even though I saw Nobes tweeted ‘Mind the gap’ during the game!
“When I went off and after I’d had treatment, I was waiting for the kit man to get me a new pair of No33 shorts from the dressing room and Stuart Pearce was encouraging me to go back on in my pants! He’s not the sort of guy you normally say ‘No’ too, but the fourth official put his arm across and wouldn’t let me.”
I was very critical of his first half display yesterday but when he was moved into a more central role he played well. I see we are linked to Coqulin from Arsenal for 10m. I would prefer to play Cullen than spend the money on him. Saying this if we signed a top quality midfielder which Coquelin is not, I feel the lad might benefit from another spell in the championship. I think he showed a lot more promise than Burke yesterday though I do accept that Burke was played out of position.
cullen was the epitome of COMMITMENT yesterday and his additional to our squad for the next 6 months (at least) can ONLY benefit us. there is no up side to loaning him out again and no down side to keeping him here to increase COMPETITION amongst all the midfield players, including any NEW ones we bring in during this window. he doesn’t even affect squad size due to being home grown. NO POINT SENDING HIM (OR BURKE & OXFORD) ANYWHERE. we need all we can get to ensure we stay up and avoid any potential injury crises we come across (oh look, we have one right now…)