Eastbourne Borough striker Andy Atkin will play through the pain this Christmas as he waits for an operation in the new year.

Atkin has struggled for fitness all season and has been booked in for surgery in January after being diagnosed with Gilmore’s groin.

The 28-year-old will be available for the busy festive schedule, though, with Borough facing derbies against Crawley on Boxing Day and New Year’s Day together with a trip to Luton Town on December 28.

Atkin said: “I felt something go against Wycombe Wanderers in pre-season and I have been struggling ever since.

“I have been managing to get through games and training but only for an hour and then it starts getting too painful to continue. It will feel sore afterwards but then the next day it would be fine.

“I’ve had treatment and I’ve tried resting it but it just wouldn’t seem to get any better so I went to see a specialist a couple of weeks ago. Straight away he said it was Gilmore’s groin and that I needed an operation.

“Luckily he can fit me in next month and because it is keyhole surgery I should only be out for four weeks.”

Atkin was keen to improve on a difficult debut season in Blue Square premier last year when he managed just eight goals and found himself out of the side for long periods.

But the problem, combined with the arrival of summer signing Liam Enver-Marum, has restricted Atkin to just 11 starting appearances this season, scoring twice.

He has not been in the starting XI since the 3-3 draw at Tooting and Mitcham in the FA Cup at the end of October and is likely to be on the bench again at the Broadfield Stadium on Boxing Day.

Atkin, who scored 20 goals to fire Borough to promotion from Blue Square south two years ago, said: “It is very frustrating. I was doing well in pre-season and looking forward to this year so to get an injury like this really gets you down.

“I just want to be playing football and the annoying thing about an injury like this is that it doesn’t get any better. The operation should fix it completely and then I’ll be looking to finish the season strongly.

“We’ve got some big games before then and hopefully I can play my part. I love the derbies against Crawley and going to somewhere like Luton is going to be a great experience.

“The win over Welling in the FA Trophy has given everybody a lift but we need to start winning in the league otherwise we’ll get sucked into trouble.

“We’ve not been playing badly and haven’t been beaten for a while so hopefully we can pick up some points over Christmas. It’ll be tough at Luton so it is important we get something out of the games against Crawley.”

l Burgess Hill have signed Bradley Duke from Croydon Athletic. Hillians boss Gary Croydon has promised changes at Leylands Park and has added the centre-half to bolster his defensive options ahead of the busy Christmas period, which starts at home to Worthing on Boxing Day.