Player needs cash for knee op to keep dream alive

A TALENTED footballer who's been part of youth England camps fears a series of brutal knee injuries might end her dreams - unless she can raise the cash for a vital operation that should fix the problems once and for all.

- SAM VOLPE

Durham University sports science student Alisha Mainwaring, 21, plays for the Durham Cestria squad - the second team for Championship side Durham City - but is currently barely able to run, never mind play football.

A talented youngster, she was scouted before the age of ten by Brighton and Hove Albion, but her first horrendous knee injury happened when she was just 14.

She underwent surgery and was able to travel to America to begin her studies on a sports scholarship, combining that with playing what Americans call soccer, but another horrific injury meant she had to return to her Sussex home.