It is hoped Ade Olorunda will recover before the end of the season

Ade Olorunda will undergo a knee operation later this month which will keep him on the sidelines for several weeks.

The Tonbridge Angels striker has been managing a cartilage problem for several weeks but it was aggravated in the 4-2 defeat to Dartford in the Kent Senior Cup last Tuesday. Olorunda was forced off early in the second half and a decision has now been taken to get the surgery done as early as possible.

Longmead boss Tommy Warrilow is optimistic the procedure will be done within a fortnight, which would give Olorunda a chance to return to fitness before the end of the season.

He said: “It looks like Ade needs to have a knee operation. He had a scan a couple of weeks ago and the cartilage was playing up, there’s a little tear. It had only been hurting the day after games so we asked him to put the operation off. Unfortunately he only lasted half a game against Dartford so I’ve told him to get it done as soon as possible.

“Hopefully we’ll see him again before the season finishes. Until you get in there you never quite know with knee operations but it should only take three or four weeks to recover from.”

Olorunda was replaced against Dartford by Jon Main, who ended up playing 70 minutes as the tie went to extra time. The striker has been out since September with a knee injury of his own and Warrilow will steadily increase the workload as he returns to fitness.

He said: “It’s going to take Jon a while to getthe cobwebs out of his system. I only wanted to give him 20 minutes against Dartford but we got a lot more than we bargained for. The good thing was he didn’t have any reaction from it, so we’ll gradually build him up.”

It will help offset the loss of Olorunda, as will the return of midfielder Rory Hill, who is back after a brief spell at Bromley.

Photo by DAVE COULDRIDGE