Town forward Marcus Harness is set to undergo surgery in the next few days on the injury he suffered during Tuesday’s Papa Johns Trophy tie against his former club Portsmouth at Portman Road and is facing eight-to-10 weeks on the sidelines.

The 26-year-old was helped from the pitch in obvious discomfort in the 24th minute of the Blues' defeat to Pompey with manager Kieran McKenna admitting afterwards that the injury didn’t “look great on first viewing”.

Harness, who cost the Blues around £450,000 when he joined from Portsmouth in the summer, is understood to have suffered a bucket handle meniscus tear to the cartilage in his knee. He will go under the knife in the next few days and is expected to be out for up to 10 weeks with his return anticipated at the end of January or early February.

A bucket handle meniscus tear is when the meniscus, a C-shaped wedge of cartilage, is ripped away from its attachments at back of the knee and flips forward into the front of the knee like a bucket handle.

Harness’s absence is a further blow to the Blues, who already have Sone Aluko, Lee Evans, Dominic Ball and Tyreece John-Jules out with longer-term injuries.

Photo: Matchday Images

BlueBoots added 09:39 - Nov 25 Get well soon, Marcus Still a lengthy spell out, but was worried he could be out for the season... COYB
9

ArnieM added 09:53 - Nov 25 The news just get better and better doesn't it. Why don't our players just ever get sprained ankle !!!
5

Marinersnose added 10:02 - Nov 25 Wishing you a full and speedy recovery. Thankfully it's meniscus and not ACL. You'll be back firing soon.
2

MagicMoe added 10:06 - Nov 25 I'd probably put the quotation marks before "didn't" instead of after. Get well soon Marcus.
1

FrankMarshall added 10:07 - Nov 25 Get well soon and rest up. Do seem really unlucky with injuries this season.
1

Gforce added 10:08 - Nov 25 Probably won't be match fit until the end of February. Not good news at all,as he was in excellent form.Three number 10s now out injured.Hopefully we can hang in there,keep grinding out results and make a statement with 2/3 quality signings in January.
4

itsonlyme added 10:23 - Nov 25 Shocking news! Injury after injury! Looks like January could be a busy month for us!
2

Chrisd added 10:31 - Nov 25 Time for others to step up to the plate, it's a squad game and hopefully the squad will show its strength in depth. Could we see more game time for Edwards or even play Humphreys further forward when Evans returns? Nevertheless, a speed recovery to Marcus.
1

Linkboy13 added 10:33 - Nov 25 Bad news just when he was hitting a run of form. I hope we get a big premier league club at home in the next round of the FA Cup and go out in a blaze of glory these cup games are jepadising our promotion chances.
1

bluesteal74 added 10:39 - Nov 25 I can see why some fans don't like the pizza 🍕 cup it's cost us 2 injuries now, get well soon Marcus.
3

terryf added 10:55 - Nov 25 Not good news for both Marcus and ITFC. I know some injuries are unavoidable but it does ask the question as to whether our training methods are too intense with players walking a fine line. Chaplin indicated a few weeks ago that we were the the fittest Team in the Division and that training was harder than the actual games. With our entourage of fitness coaches this shouldn't keep happening. Our Bench has now gone from the envy of the Division and a lethal weapon to something bordering on threadbare. Lets hope we can keep getting the results we need to get out of this awful League One.

0

RegencyBlue added 10:57 - Nov 25 Shame for Harness but an opportunity for Edwards to stake a claim for a starting place.
6

Cakeman added 11:14 - Nov 25 We sure need some signings in January. We don't seem to do short term injuries!
0

blues1 added 11:20 - Nov 25 Terryf. These type of injuries have nothing to do with howzhard training is, or isn't. Tgd injurieszww're picking up are all contact injuries. Not muscle tears. Nothing that can be done to prevent these type of injuries. Just bad luck.
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superblues9 added 13:03 - Nov 25 Gutted will miss him big time need strikers in January now needed at least 1 maybe need 2 now must sign someone !
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runningout added 13:05 - Nov 25 MH will come back stronger!!
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chepstowblue added 13:23 - Nov 25 The team will soon be picking itself. We'll undoubtedly be seeing a lot more of Edwards, though another option would be to have KVY in Burns usual role and Wes moving into a no10 role where he'd look far more likely to contribute than several who've been tried there.
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Suffolkboy added 13:37 - Nov 25 Sure KM has things worked out ; our intelligent planning and forethought will have ensured pretty well all angles ( nearly said ankles) are covered with players who are flexible and willing . Nevertheless the January window is looking an attractive proposition ,and we shall maybe have to think seriously about some who might have been fringe necessities . M A and KM will surely see us through !! COYB

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terryf added 16:49 - Nov 25 blues 1 if that's the case how come our Team of fitness coaches didn't pick up Dom's injury from the previous match he played. He looked really off the pace against Bracknell and was obviously carrying the injury into that match, aggravating the problem by playing and now out for the season. Could have been avoided in my opinion.
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blueboy1981 added 18:50 - Nov 25 Let's not have the mindset that other Teams / Managers / Coaches don't have the same problems over the course of a full season - because THEY DO !!
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