Striker Alan Lee will undergo surgery on his long-standing groin injury and looks likely to miss the beginning of the season. Lee has been troubled with the problem since the end of 2005/06 and wasn't risked in Ireland's recent friendly with Chile.

Matt Byard, one of Town's team of physios, told the club site: "Alan has had a scan and the specialist has advised us that he should have surgery.

"He will have an operation in the abdominal region - a relatively minor one - and then it will be rest and recuperation from there.

"It's difficult to say when he will be back in action but, looking at it at the moment, I would say he will be out for up to eight weeks.

"It could be shorter than that, it could be longer, but it would be fair to say that it will be tight for him to be fully match fit for the start of the season."

The Town squad are due back for pre-season training on June 26th with 2006/07 due to kick-off on August 5th.

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