Town boss Paul Lambert admits Will Keane’s injury is a “major blow” for the Blues but hopes the striker is back more quickly than the six weeks Republic of Ireland manager and former Town chief Mick McCarthy suggested yesterday afternoon.
"Obviously he’s out with his hamstring,” Lambert said when asked about Keane’s fitness, the 26-year-old having limped off during the second half at Wigan last Saturday.
"We’re not quite sure how long he’s out for but he’s out which is a blow, a major blow for us because of how well he’s been playing.
"That’s what you get, that’s my point about when you take loan players, you’re getting loan players for a reason at times.
"They don’t play much football at their own clubs and we’re asking them sometimes to go and play three games in a week, which is really, really hard going.
"You can go through our lads like that, a lot of them are like that where they’ve come in at a time when we’re trying to get them up to speed.
"That’s football at time but it’s not an ideal scenario. It’s definitely a blow because he was playing really, really well for us, but time-wise I’m not sure.”
Asked whether McCarthy was right with his suggestion of a six-week absence for a player who is in the process of switching international allegiance to Ireland, where his father was born, Lambert added: "I don’t know, I really don’t know how long a hamstring’s going to take. I’ve got a rough idea but it depends on how severe it is.
"Some guys can recover quick, some guys take longer, it all depends on his recovery.
"Hopefully, with a bit of luck, he’s back sooner rather than later. The great thing is that he’s got an international break coming up and a game against Hull that he can’t play anyway so that will give us some sort of respite.”
Lambert says there’s no frustration with McCarthy for making the extent of Keane’s injury public with Town having been looking to keep Reading guessing ahead of the weekend.
"I don’t think it should have been out there anyway,” he said. "Mick’s probably just got asked a question and maybe just heard he’d hurt his hamstring.
"There’s no blame attached to Mick McCarthy at all, none whatsoever. He probably got asked a question about Will and had a stab at it or was just going on his own experience but no blame attached to Mick whatsoever.”