With Coventry City finally getting on a run of some decent form and climbing out of the relegation zone for the first time in five months, the City boss Andy Thorn has been dealt a blow with injuries to two of his senior central defenders, Richard Wood and Nathan Cameron.
Wood (pictured above) has been sent for an operation to repair a knee cartilage problem and will miss the remainder of the season and Nathan Cameron looks unlikely to recover in time and will probably have knee surgery at the end of the season.
With James McPake on loan at Hibernian and cannot be recalled, the injuries have left Coventry with a shortage of experienced central defenders to cope with the vital end of season, six game run in.
Thorn will have to rely on the ever present and reliable Richard Keogh to partner Martin Cranie in the middle of the defence and hope that neither of them get injured as their only cover is the 17 year old Jordan Willis.
"It's still a bit swollen and we'll wait to see how it is in case it's not as bad as we think, but he can't play on it at the moment and we'll send him for surgery at the end of the season. There's not a lot we can do about it. It's another blow but we're used to those.
"It's particularly disappointing for Nathan who did unbelievably well when he came back into the side. He was nice and strong and it was good for us because we really needed him at that time."
Wood has been absent since February and Thorn confirmed: "He's had a cartilage operation so we won't be seeing him again this season.
"We're going into the last six games with no senior cover but we'll just get on with it and hope that the lads who are fit stay fit. We had to take young Jordan up to Hull with us. He's a centre-back who can play at full-back as well, and a good prospect but still young and raw at this level."
Picture copyright of Covsupport News Service. Credit CNS/SB