Sutton United boss Paul Doswell has revealed Karl Murray is a major doubt for next weekend’s FA Trophy trip to Eastleigh.

The former Shrewsbury Town midfielder-cum-defender limped out of Saturday’s thrilling 4-3 triumph over Wealdstone with a recurrence of a hip problem suffered against Maidstone United.

Murray, who had a disappointing loan spell at Gander Green Lane last season, has been in flying form since returning to the club having started the current campaign at Carshalton Athletic.

But the ex-Woking man has been plagued by the problem since being sidelines for six weeks with a similar injury while at Kingfield and Doswell is only hoping it hasn’t flared up again.

“I’m really disappointed for him. His career has been on a downward spiral and I feared he may never get it back together,” he said.

“Some fans will have been disappointed to see him come back after last season, but he has been outstanding since he has come back and has given us that bit of strength.

“I’m concerned for him. This was a problem before at Woking and he did it again against Maidstone but managed to get back quite quickly.

“It relates to his hip and causes a bit of a nerve problem. It is still sore, so he will definitely miss this weekend and I would say he is about 50-50 for the Eastleigh match.”

Stoppage time goals from Simon Downer and Sam Page saw Sutton come from 3-2 down to beat a Wealdstone side rated the best attacking outfit seen at Gander Green Lane this term.

Doswell was delighted to be on the right end of a late comeback as his side prepared for Saturday’s trip to in-form Hendon by preserving their unbeaten home record.

“We lost only two games in our last 22 matches last season and the amount of times we came from behind late on in those games means you can’t question the spirit in this squad,” he added.

“It was one of those games we didn’t deserve to win but I’m really pleased we did.

“Hendon have only lost twice in the league this season and enjoyed a good FA Cup run so their manager deserves a lot of credit for what he has achieved.”

And that’s before the manager considers his much-anticipated return to his former club.

“We haven’t even talked about Eastleigh. Everyone down there is going on about it already, but our priority is winning at Hendon and then we’ll think about it,” said Doswell.

Sutton’s next three games: Dec 4 Hendon (a), 11 Eastleigh (a), 14 Molesey (Surrey Senior Cup, a).