Town striker George Hirst is set for a few weeks on the sidelines due to the groin injury he suffered in the 3-1 victory over Sheffield Wednesday, while Sammie Szmodics is still absent from training having been ill over the weekend.

Hirst limped off in the ninth minute of the win against the Owls, the club where he started his career and where his father David is a legend.

Asked how long the Scotland World Cup hopeful might be out for, manager Kieran McKenna said: “Not exactly, but it's going to be a few weeks.

“We’ve had the scan and no exact timescales. Thankfully, it’s not a huge muscular injury, but not a very minor one either.”

But McKenna says it’s not a significant enough injury to mean he will be changing his priorities when the January transfer window opens.

“Not really, no,” he said. “Hopefully, it’s going to be a few weeks, you wouldn’t make any sort of decision around an injury of that sort of timescale. So no, I don’t see it having a big impact on anything we might do next month.”

Regarding forward Szmodics, McKenna says the Ireland international is not back with the squad: “He’s not training with the group yet.”

Better news is that Wes Burns was fine after playing 76 minutes for the U21s last night as the Welshman continues his comeback after suffering an ACL injury at Liverpool in January.

“He came through OK,” the Blues boss continued. “I spoke to him briefly this morning and he’s in good spirits to get the minutes, and that’s a good step for him.”

McKenna said previously that all being well, the 31-year-old may play some part over the Christmas/New Year period.

Reflecting on the health of his squad going into four games in 10 days, starting at Millwall on Boxing Day, McKenna says the situation is far better than was the case two years ago.

“Certainly, by the end of the Christmas period, I remember it being all hands on deck at the QPR and Stoke games,” he recalled, both games having ended 0-0 with the Blues very short on options due to injury and illness.

“Let’s see where we are by the end of the week or the end of next week, because we go into it in a pretty good position as we are now. 

“But there’s an awful lot of football to be played in a short space of time. It’s good to be going into it with good numbers. As we saw with George the other day, things can change really, really quickly.

“We just need to do everything we can to keep the bodies fit and available and ready. People are going to get chances to step up over the course of the four games.”

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