Town boss Paul Lambert has revealed that midfielder Flynn Downes will be out for three months with the knee injury he suffered in Saturday’s away game at the MK Dons, while left-back Stephen Ward is likely to miss the weekend visit to Blackpool with the achilles problem he picked up at Stadium MK.
Asked about Downes’s injury, which he suffered soon after coming off the bench, leaving the Blues with 10 men for the final 22 minutes of the match, Lambert said: "He’ll be out for three months. We have to get on with it. It’s a bad one, we have to get on with it.
"Wardy’s the same, but not three months. We hope he’ll be back pretty quick. But we’ve got long-term ones.”
"He says Downes won’t need an operation: "I don’t think he’ll need surgery, it’s a bad one, so we’re going to lose him for a couple of months. That’s the game.”
The 21-year-old's injury would seem likely to end Crystal Palace's immediate interest in signing him, however, the Eagles, who have been eyeing the former England U20 international since last season, could well revisit the situation in the next window.
The Blues manager says Ward is unlikely to be ready for the trip to Bloomfield Road on Saturday: "It looks like it, unless he makes an incredible recovery. Wardy’s been there, seen it and done it. He’s been excellent for us and if he’s out then somebody else has to step up.”