Town boss Joe Royle has received more bad injury news with central defensive linchpin Jason De Vos likely to miss Saturday's visit by Burnley with a broken toe. Royle is already without three other senior players - Darren Bent (hamstring), Kelvin Davis (back) and Fabian Wilnis (suspended).

De Vos was due to return to the squad this morning after playing the full 90 minutes in Canada's 3-1 defeat to Costa Rica on Wednesday. Royle told the club site that he isn't completely ruling out the central defender at this stage: "His toe is black and blue and has all the symptoms of a fracture.

"It's swollen and he will have a scan to see what the damage is so obviously he is a doubt for the weekend but we have not ruled him out yet. We will see what the scans show first."

De Vos's injury immediately set Royle looking for defensive loan cover.

Royle had been hard at work at securing short-term cover for Darren Bent due to the striker's hamstring injury. Town's limited resources mean Royle is only able to bring in one loanee at the present time.

However, better news for the Town boss is that Bent's injury is not a muscle tear. The striker, who picked up the problem on England U21 duty, had a scan yesterday afternoon and now faces around a week to ten days on the sidelines.

If De Vos is unavailable there could be a reshuffle at the back with Drissa Diallo favourite to partner Richard Naylor at central defence and youngster Scott Mitchell coming in for his first league start at right-back.

Royle's other alternative is to give Aidan Collins a full debut at centre-back, keeping Diallo at right-back. However, with Mitchell the marginally more experienced of the two teenagers, he looks more likely to get the nod.

The Town manager says that he has been fearful that his small squad would be badly hit by injuries: "I always knew that three injuries would represent a crisis because of the size of our squad - now our worst fears have been realised.

"But on the other hand it looks as if we will have eight or nine of our own boys on duty tomorrow and that is a fantastic achievement for the club."

Another youngster, central defender Jerrome Sobers, has been added to the squad in De Vos's absence.

Squad: Price, Supple, Diallo, Richards, Mitchell, Naylor, Sobers, Collins, Magilton, Horlock, Miller, Westlake, Murray, Kuqi, Bowditch, Couñago.

Photo: Action Images

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