Defender George Ray and striker Lauri Dalla Valle face lengthy three month lay-offs after recent ankle problems, but the squad looks set to be boosted by the return of Brad Inman, Chris Atkinson and David Fox next week.

Harry Davis and Dave Richards continue their rehabilitation and shouldn’t be too far from a return.

Steve said: “We’ve not had much luck at all with injuries this season and we’ve had similar instances over the past few seasons with injuries that keep them out for more than a few games. It’s part of the game but it doesn’t help.

“Lauri had a scan after the Under 21 game after being on the end of a poor tackle. We thought he’d broken his ankle at the time but the X-ray revealed some quite extensive ligament damage. You could tell by his reaction that it was bad so he’s now in plaster or a boot so he can’t move it around. We’re looking at easily 2-3 months with that.

“Dave Richards is starting to do a bit of goalkeeping work with Fred. He hasn’t really ran around too much. The problem was with his kicking foot so he hasn’t done any of that yet, it’s just about getting him back into the picture gradually.

“On a positive, Foxy played 45 minutes against Leeds in the U21’s and will play again Monday just to get back match fit. Brad hasn’t trained yet but will be back Monday, and the same with Coco as we’ve given him chance to get his hamstrings right.”