WARRINGTON Town are hoping for good news about Jack Mackreth’s injury – but manager Paul Carden says the worst-case scenario is that his season could be over.

The winger had to be substituted late on during the 4-0 win over Grantham Town on January 26 and scans revealed him to have a fractured jaw and cheekbone.

Mackreth, who has been one of Town’s key performers this season having scored 10 goals in all competitions, has undergone an operation today and Yellows are waiting on the outcome.

“It could be a case of him being out for a couple of weeks, but it could also be him out for the season,” Carden said.

“He has a fractured jaw and cheekbone. The jaw isn’t too bad but the way the cheekbone is – if it can be fixed today and they can just manipulate the bone out without it dropping again, that’s a bonus.

“If it needs to have a small balloon putting behind it, that will probably end his season.

“Hopefully we’ll have some good news in that it’s a couple of weeks and nothing more.”

Warrington Guardian:

Jack Mackreth has 10 goals for Yellows this season. Picture by John Hopkins

In more positive injury news, Carden confirmed club captain Jay McCarten is closing in on a return from a long-term ankle injury.

The central defender has not played in over a year after suffering the injury against Altrincham last January.

Carden says the initial plan is to allow McCarten to leave the club on loan to get game time but he insisted he has a big role to play in his side’s run-in.

“Jay McCarten’s upped his training levels and now he’s at a point where he’s looking to get some game time,” he said.

“The plan is to get him out on loan, possibly to the league below.

“There’s a couple of clubs that have enquired about him, just to see where he’s at.

“He’s been out for more than 12 months now so there’s no point rushing him, but we do need to get him back.

“He will be a great player to have back for the last eight to 10 games but he needs to get up to speed and playing some football.”

Warrington Guardian:

Jay McCarten has not played for over a year because of an ankle injury. Picture by John Hopkins

Town moved to the top of the Evo-Stik Premier Division on Saturday with an impressive 4-1 victory at play-off chasing Gainsborough Trinity.

Carden feels the result is up there among their best of the campaign.

“We were really strong. We didn’t give up on anything, chased everything down, used the ball well and scored some excellent goals,” he said.

“It’s four more goals from open play. We work on set pieces a lot and we don’t score enough from them, but our goals from open play are from moves we do work on as well.

“I’d say it’s up there with the best results of the season. They are a good team, make no mistake about that.

“They’ve got experience from higher up the leagues, good young players who clearly know the game and a couple of lads on loan who you can see are going to have careers in the game.

“We really took it to them and it’s another game when we actually could have scored more.”

Warrington Guardian:

Jack Dunn celebrates his goal in Saturday's 4-1 win at Gainsborough with fellow goalscorer Dylan Vassallo. Picture by John Hopkins