BURY goalkeeper Trevor Carson has revealed how his international ambitions have been put on hold as he bids to nurse a fractured finger through to the end of the season.

The 24-year-old keeper was due to join the Northern Ireland squad for their friendly in Malta at the start of February but had to pull out after injuring his hand in the 2-0 win against Doncaster.

“I would have played but we initially thought I was going to be out for a few weeks, but it sort of settled down that week,” said Carson, who earned his first call-up last year but is yet to win his first cap for Northern Ireland.

“I spoke with Michael O’Neill, the manager, about it and he understood that, with the situation we were in, it was more important for me to be here and giving my all to Bury FC.”

There was real concern Carson would need an immediate operation that would have seen him miss up to six weeks of the run-in.

That has been shelved until the end of the season, but the Killyleagh-born keeper admits he will have to be wrapped in cotton wool to guard against the injury getting any worse. “I have trained maybe once since doing it two weeks ago. It’s just a matter of getting myself right for Saturday,” he said.

“You can play a game and maybe touch the ball once or twice, but in training you are getting balls whacked at you constantly. So it’s a matter of getting to the summer and hopefully getting it straightened up then, maybe through a little operation.”