Town boss Mick McCarthy has confirmed that winger Ryan Fraser is facing six to eight weeks out with a hamstring injury and has revealed that midfield pair Cole Skuse and Giles Coke are also set to be sidelined.
"He’ll probably be out for six to eight weeks,” McCarthy said regarding Fraser, who suffered his injury in the final moments at QPR last week. "A real sad one that, I could tell when he did it he’d damaged his hamstring.
"Fair play to him, he kept hold of the ball for three or four seconds trying to get someone in play, which shows what he’s all about.
"He left the building as positive as ever, saying that he’s going to be six weeks and he’ll be back, and let’s hope that’s the case. But the timeframe is that it’ll be eight weeks.
"He’s been exceptional on both occasions he's been here. We missed him when he was injured the last time and we’ll miss him again this time, no doubt. But you have to get on with it, somebody else will get to play.”
Regarding former Bristol City man Skuse, he said: "Cole Skuse is out for at least a month, it could be six weeks. He has damaged a ligament in his toe.
"He did it early on in the game and limped through. He came off and had it strapped at half-time.
"It gave him a bit of comfort but it just got too much. That’s a real blow because he’s been in every game, he’s been inked in, he’s been one of the first names on the teamsheet for the last two and a half or three years.”
A disappointed Cole Skuse talks us through his injury, which will deny him the chance to return to Ashton Gate #itfchttps://t.co/K7Yc3u8FOo
— Ipswich Town FC (@Official_ITFC) February 11, 2016
Coke suffered a knee problem which looked serious having come on as a sub at Loftus Road but carried on but is also now looking at a month out: "He’s out for four weeks as well, he’s damaged his knee.”
Better news is that Luke Hyam is making progress after missing last week’s game with a calf problem, although he is a far from certain starter at Ashton Gate on Saturday.
"Luke Hyam may well be available yet, he went through his training today and we’ll see how he reacts tomorrow and then [after this weekend] we’ll have Jonathan Douglas back [from his three-match ban] and that certainly strengthens my hand.”
He added: "We’ve still got options in there, Kevin Bru, Tabby and Ainsley plays in there as well.
"If we get Ben Pringle, he plays in there, so we have got options we can put in there. Kev Foley can play in there.
"And if we have to get down to our own kids rather than looking at anybody else’s, Adam McDonnell’s been doing great in the U21s. But whatever we’ve got on Saturday we’ll make the best of it.”