Purdie out for season

Rob Purdie (pictured) will miss the remainder of the season after suffering a hip injury which will need surgery. Purdie had not yet made his debut for the Latics after moving from Darlington. Purdie is 27 and is a versatile player who has been sidelined since picking up an injury in training last summer. Latics manager Dave Penney told the official website, "Rob's problems have been ongoing, but hopefully we have found out the cause and it will be finally sorted, though he won't play for the rest of the season. It has been a nightmare both for us and him as he won't have played in his first 12 months with us. Yet in the two years I worked with Rob at Darlington, he hardly missed a match."

Andy Holdsworth is another player who is likely to be out for the rest of the season too. Holdsworth last pulled on a Latics shirt at the latter end of November and now he needs to make another recovery after undergoing surgery on a long-standing knee problem.