It's likely to be a long summer for Norwich City striker Carlton Morris – but the youngster is hoping the healing hands of surgeon Andy Williams will make the wait worthwhile.

Morris was playing the final game of his season-long loan at League One Shrewsbury – the play-off final against Rotherham United – when he tumbled to the Wembley turf with an hour gone.

The incident look innocuous enough, but Morris was clutching his left leg in agony and, despite a brave attempt to play on, his game was over, having damaged his anterior crucial ligament.

He explained: 'I turned my man just to get us up the pitch a bit. I was driving forward, it was late in the games, legs were hurting a bit, a bit tired.

'I came up against Richard Wood, the centre back for Rotherham. I went to go past him and kind of took a heavy touch and I reached in with my left leg, my foot got caught and my knee just popped out.

'It was painful at the time but I felt alright a bit after. The occasion might have overshadowed it, if that makes sense.

'There was a lot of adrenalin at the time - you are not really clear of what you can feel. When it was being tested it felt alright so thought I could carry on and see, but it was worse than I thought it was.'

The bad news wasn't long in coming – and it was an unwelcome surprise for the 22-year-old.

'I was meant to go on holiday on the Monday but I needed to get a scan and get it sorted out – but even then I was thinking it was three weeks,' he recalled in an interview with the club's web site.

'I had the scan on the Monday night and then found out on the Tuesday morning when (head physio) Chris Burton at Norwich rang me and said, 'you have done your cruciate'.

'I didn't really see that coming to be honest because, as I said, I thought it was maybe six to eight weeks. I remember saying to Louis Thompson the day before, 'I hope it is six weeks and not eight' so I could get a good amount of pre-season in, so it was a bit of a shock to the system to be fair.'

Morris has been treated by Andy Williams, one of the country's leading experts on knee injuries, but still needs to be patient – he is expected to be out for several months.