Town boss Kieron McKenna has revealed that central midfielder Lee Evans will be out for eight-to-ten weeks with the knee injury he suffered in the 1-1 draw at Cambridge United, however, better news is that Massimo Luongo could be back in the squad for tomorrow’s visit by Forest Green Rovers and Dominic Ball and Panutche Camara are both making progress.
McKenna, who himself is suffering with the tail-end of a cold, confirmed that Evans, who has missed the last two matches, is set for a longer spell on the sidelines.
"Lee has seen a knee specialist,” he said. "He’s had an injury in his knee, a different injury in a different knee than he had early in the season, but he’s picked up an injury and they estimate it’s going to be eight-to-ten weeks before he can return. Hopefully we’ll see him before the end of the league season.
"It’s a blow, of course, he’s an important player for us, but I think Cameron [Humphreys] coming in lately has been an absolute credit to himself and to the club and his performances have been consistent and he’s given everything that he can to the team.
"We’re also happy with what we have at the moment, but I think any team in this league would miss Lee Evans that we’ve missed him for.”
With Luongo having joined Evans in missing recent matches due to a minor knock and Ball and Camara long-term absentees, the Blues have found themselves short in central midfield with youngster Humphreys having to play more regularly alongside skipper Sam Morsy than Town would ideally have wanted.
"I think in general, we’ve dealt with it well,” McKenna reflected. "On Tuesday night, I thought there was a really high level of fatigue in the pair we have to understand that Cameron’s still a physically maturing 19-year-old making his first steps in men’s football.
"Having said that, he’s a fantastic character, his athleticism for somebody of slight build at the moment, his running numbers, his running distances are fantastic and we’re loving having as part of our season and part of our journey as we go forward.
"We want the bodies back and need the bodies back, I don’t think it’s going to be fair for Cameron to play 90 minutes of every game between now and the end of the season, so it’s important that we recover the bodies as quickly as we can.
"Massimo has trained today, which is a positive and Dominic is progressing well on the grass and Panutche is progressing really well on the grass as well. We hope that in a few weeks’ time we’ll be in a stronger position.”
McKenna says January signing Luongo could be in the 18 tomorrow: "A possibility that he will be involved in the squad. Of course, we have to make judgements as we always do on minutes and what’s appropriate because we’re going to need him from now until the end of the season.
"There’s a chance for him to be in the squad tomorrow for the first time in a couple of weeks.”
However, George Edmundson isn’t yet ready to return: "Not for tomorrow. He’s got an injury in his ankle that he picked up in the Burnley game, so he’s still not trained with the group and we’re not sure yet on his availability. He’s having a scan today, so we’ll see how serious that is. Everyone else is available.”
Tyreece John-Jules’s return to the squad having undergone hamstring surgery in November has been delayed with the Arsenal loanee has, like his manager, been unwell.
"Not yet, he was due to return this weekend and he has some illness as well, so that’s delayed it a few days and then it should be very shortly after that.”