CHRIS Brass has had keyhole surgery to cure his stomach muscle injury, ruling him out of the start to the new season on Saturday week.

Brass, who has been the sole casualty of Burnley's pre-season programme, picked up the injury during training a couple of weeks ago.

And the club acted to speed up his return by booking him in for a visit to a specialist in an effort to clear up the problem.

"Chris went to see a specialist in Oswestry and he had keyhole surgery to repair a hernia," confirmed manager Stan Ternent.

"He should be back with us within three to four weeks."

Ternent hopes that, by acting quickly, the player's absence will have been kept to a minimum.

The injury setback represents wretched luck for Brass, who overcame a number of problems last season to claim a crucial role in the team.

Having started the campaign as skipper, he was called upon to operate as a utility man before injury forced him into knee surgery for the second time in a year, during which time Gordon Armstrong took on the captain's responsibilities. And it wasn't until he captured his favoured central defensive position for the run-in to the season that the Clarets stalwart showed his true colours.

The 24-year-old, the club's longest serving player along with Paul Smith and Paul Weller, played the last 12 games alongside Steve Davis as Burnley lost just once to guarantee their Second Division safety.

That record may have been enough to earn Brass the nod to start this season, even with the arrival of Mitchell Thomas.

But he will now have to watch from the sidelines as Davis and Thomas look set to develop the defensive pairing that was used first at Luton Town and which Ternent has employed in each of the Clarets warm-up games.

"It means Steve Davis and Mitchell Thomas are having to play all the games. I could play Gordon Armstrong in there but Brassy would have been sharing it out in that situation," confirmed Ternent, whose acquisition of Thomas under the Bosman ruling is now looking an even smarter move.

"Mitchell Thomas is a good player. He's been a good player for a lot of years and it's no different now," the Burnley boss added. Burnley's reserve side continue their build-up to the new season at Accrington Stanley tonight (kick-off 7.30).

Burnley are asking anyone who hasn't yet collected their season ticket to do so to avoid a late rush before the start of the season.

Boundary Clarets travel prices for the season's opener at Wycombe Wanderers on Saturday week are £12, £14 and £10. Cost for the trip to Manchester City on Wednesday, August 11 is £5. For bookings ring 832100 (day) and 705425 (evenings).

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