Owen Dale played out just 40 minutes of Saturday’s 2-0 loss at Portsmouth after feeling unwell with a sickness bug. The forward was replaced by Christopher Long before half-time and will have to be assessed by the club doctor before he is considered for selection against Oxford United this evening.

Dale, who claimed a clean-sweep of the player-of-the-year awards last season, was unwell on the morning of the Pompey clash but felt well enough to give it a go and start the game at Fratton Park.

Artell explained to the club’s official website: “Owen just felt unwell on the morning of the game but he felt well enough to start and gave it a go.

“We got 40 minutes out of him but he was a shadow of himself, really. We didn’t want to make it worse so we got him off the pitch. It was a sickness bug and we will have to assess him. The doctor will check in with him and we can only see how he is.”