Forest Green striker Styche ruled out for the season (From Stroud News and Journal)

Popular marksman goes under the knife for second time in 15 months

5:01pm Thursday 28th February 2013 in Sport By Ashley Loveridge

FOREST Green striker Reece Styche is undergoing knee surgery this afternoon, Thursday, for the second time in 15 months.

In a bitter blow, Styche, 23, will go under the knife today for a second time at Cheltenham’s Nuffield Hospital, where he underwent surgery to correct cartilage damage in his right knee. With an estimated recovery time of nine months, Rovers hope to see the forward return at the end of the year.

Styche was returning to the kind of form that saw him rated as one of the best players outside of league football, when he was stretched off after a challenge in the game against Wrexham at the beginning of February.

While the injury originally presented as a medial strain with no obvious anterior-cruciate ligament (ACL) element, a lack of improvement and gradually increasing pain, saw a scan reveal a ruptured ACL in his left knee.

Styche had scored seven times this season from 30 games with just 11 starts.

The Birmingham-based former Hednesford Town and Shepshed Dynamo striker joined Rovers in January 2010 from Unibond minnows Chasetown, where he bagged 13 goals in 15 appearances; he combined plumbing with leading Forest Green's attack in his first season.

He made his debut for Rovers as a half-time substitute at Hayes and Yeading in January 2010, scoring within five minutes of his introduction and eventually netting a last-gasp winner.

He signed a three year deal in 2011 after Rovers rebuffed a £75,000 bid from Luton Town.