Blues left-back Greg Leigh is facing months on the sidelines after suffering a knock during last week’s 2-2 draw at Sheffield Wednesday, while striker Gassan Ahadme is a doubt ahead of Sunday’s live-on-Sky clash at Plymouth having been ill this week.

Leigh was due to join up with the Jamaica squad for their friendly against Argentina in New Jersey next Tuesday and would have been able to play for Town in the Papa Johns Trophy tie against Arsenal’s U21s on Tuesday but for the injury.

“We’ve had a couple of other issues to report,” manager Kieran McKenna said at his lunchtime press conference. “Greg Leigh unfortunately picked something up at the back end of the Sheffield Wednesday game that was initially thought to be some bone bruising and it was going to be touch and go whether he would make his internationals this week.

“There have been some scans on this this week just to make sure and unfortunately he’s got a compression fracture of his leg and he’s going to be out for a longer period of time.

“That’s a disappointing one for Greg and for us as well, so he’s going to have more of a lengthy spell on the sidelines.

“Apart from that we have Sone [Aluko, knee] and Panutche [Camara, groin] still returning from their injuries. Gassan has missed training this week with illness and it’s touch and go whether he’ll travel to Plymouth next week, we’ll have to see how he is over the next 24 hours.”

By a lengthy spell, are we talking weeks or months? “It’s more likely to be months. Hopefully not a long period of months, but that will depend on the healing and the bone over the next six weeks.

“So it’s very much a recover for six weeks, let the bone heal and after that it will be a check on how the bone has healed.

“But we’re hopeful that it will be a shorter period of months rather than a significant amount.”

Leigh’s injury is disappointing with the 27-year-old having been competing well with Leif Davis for the left-back/left wing-back role.

“They were, and the balance was what we hoped it would be with a young player coming in who has got high potential but hadn’t made many professional starts yet and hadn’t been in the league.

“And balancing that off with a more experienced player who had been in the league for a few different clubs and would be able to give us different qualities at different times, but also help and be a good teammate for the younger players.

“So, we had a really good balance there. I’m disappointed for Greg, of course. It was a good moment in his career and he was progressing internationally, obviously.

“Ipswich was a big step forward for him as well that he’d risen to. But it’s part and parcel of the game, and he understands that as well.

“We’ve been a little bit unlucky, if I can say, at the moment because that’s certainly Sone, Greg and Cameron [Burgess] with innocuous contact injuries that are hard to predict and hard to avoid, really. And that’s three major ones that we’ve picked up in the last month.

“So, it’s unfortunate for the squad in that respect, but that’s why we built a strong squad to hopefully deal with the rigours of a season.

“It came a bit quicker and more unexpectedly than we predicted, but we’re confident with what we have here.

“We have a good number of players, we have versatile players with quality and experience, and overall we’ve got a great hunger in the squad to do well and if you have that, I’m confident that we’ll find the right solutions for the games coming up.

Cameron Humphreys regularly played for Town’s U23s as a left-back last season, might the 18-year-old come into McKenna’s thoughts for that role during Leigh’s absence?

“It’s a possibility, that’s not one that we’ve looked at with him yet, all his football with me has been either as an eight or in the 10 positions behind the frontman and he’s been very capable in both of those,” he said.

“In terms of him playing as a left-back or a left wing-back, it’s a possibility for him. We have Kane Vincent-Young of course as well, who is very experienced and capable in that position.

“We have good options, good versatility in the squad, lots of players who can do the same role but bring different qualities to it, and I think that gives us the ability to be able to be flexible within games and plan as we want to plan and make sure that we have the attacking the defending balance that we want for each game.”

Photo: Matchday Images

martin587 added 15:16 - Sep 23 We appear to be suffering from very unfortunate injuries over the last few games.Hopefully our squad is strong enough to overcome these.We can only wish the injured recover asap.Fingers crossed for Sunday.This will be the first away match I've missed in two years but I wish all the traveling supporters a very safe journey and that get the right result.
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Chrisd added 15:19 - Sep 23 This is the big difference for me compared to previous seasons. We've got all these injuries and then you look who could potentially come in and we've got really good options. A huge blow with Leigh's injury and I hope him and Burgess make speedy returns as both have made positive impacts this season, however I am also thinking we've got good cover in both those areas of the pitch.

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OwainG1992 added 15:26 - Sep 23 It's a shame regarding Leigh but we still have KVY and Edwards to name just 2 who can play there.
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BtreeBlueBlood added 15:29 - Sep 23 Luckily we haven't got too many games in November due to the World Cup!
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BlueandTruesince82 added 15:32 - Sep 23 Think Leigh has brought a huge amount of energy, gutted for him as I think he offers a lot to the team even if not starting most matches. This is exactly why we signed Leif though, 2 quality players at LB means it won't be the miss it cooked have been. Hope he gets back soon, really lively player
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Linkboy13 added 15:36 - Sep 23 KVY can play there but as far as i know Edwards has never played there not long term anyway and has no defensive qualities. Can we recall Penney i don't know.
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ringwoodblue added 15:52 - Sep 23 That's really bad for Greg. I wish him a speedy recovery. So that's Sone, Cam and Greg all out for a while so the injuries are starting to build up. Fingers crossed that there are no others.
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blues1 added 16:54 - Sep 23 Btreevlueblood. The world Cup has no effect on our fixtures. The reason there's not many shown in the fixture list is down to us,having fa cup games on the other weekends.
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d77sgw added 18:03 - Sep 23 KVY's chance. He's quality - if he can stay fit.
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Lightningboy added 19:46 - Sep 23 🙄 Here we go. Thought we'd seen the back of the never ending injury curse.
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Facefacts added 20:00 - Sep 23 Did anyone see the contact on Leigh and was it a red card, if noone saw it, we should be asking the manager did he review the contact on video, we should get it retrospectively looked at. We can't afford to lose players like this.
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Facefacts added 20:05 - Sep 23 This is sickening. We should be asking the manager did he see the incident and has he watched it back, if a red card let's get it retrospectively punished, we are too nice and other teams will put the boot in on us until we are weakened enough for the thug teams to catch us up.
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ArnieM added 20:52 - Sep 23 …. And so the injuries pile up for us once again. And not simple muscle strains requiring just a week out. Oh no, let's have full on, set of serious injuries of several key players, all at the same time. All requiring months out. Effing brilliant !
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LegendofthePhoenix added 08:42 - Sep 24 Greg has already shown that he is a real class act, and has become a really key member of the squad. Left back now one of our strongest areas on the pitch. And I have a feeling that Panutche will also have a huge impact in the spine of the team, can't wait to see him fit and ready. Get well soon the both of you.
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