CHRIS Coleman was recovering in hospital today after surgery on his ruptured Achilles tendon which will rule him out for the rest of the Premiership campaign.

The Welsh international defender left Highfield Road on crutches on Saturday night, heading for a date in the operating theatre with specialist John Hodgkinson - the man who did such a good job on Graeme Le Saux.

Coleman was taken off on a stretcher 12 minutes from the end of Rovers' game against Coventry City and manager Ray Harford revealed the doctor at the ground had diagnosed a ruptured Achilles tendon.

"No-one was near me, I just went down," said Coleman, putting on a brave face as he waited for Rovers physio Steve Foster to drive him to hospital in Greater Manchester.

"I couldn't believe it. It never rains but it pours.

"But there's nothing I can do about it, you just have to accept what happens and get on with it."

Such a serious injury signals months out of action and it came after Coleman, left out of the Coca-Cola Cup tie against Brentford, had bounced back in style at Highfield Road. His absence will also be a blow for Wales boss Bobby Gould, with vital World Cup qualifying matches coming up.

Coleman is a regular member of the Welsh defence.

Other Rovers players are also set to miss out on key international fixtures as the Ewood injury crisis deepens again.

Jeff Kenna's knee ligament injury was kept a closely-guarded secret before Saturday's game.

But he will almost certainly have to drop out of the Republic of Ireland squad and Rovers can only hope the damage is not long-term.

And Kevin Gallacher is set to miss Scotland's upcoming double date in the World Cup qualifiers after suffering hamstring problems against his old club.

Henning Berg pulled out of Saturday's game with a virus and manager Ray Harford said: "It's something that seems to have been doing the rounds and one or two of the lads looked as though they were a bit under the weather."

George Donis had his own personal fan club at Highfield Road. A group of around 50-100 Greeks, waving national flags, were grouped at the halfway line cheering on Rovers in general and Donis in particular.

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