Coventry City's central defender Richard Wood is in danger of missing the two important games over the Easter period.
Wood picked up an ankle injury in the draw against Sheffield Wednesday and sat out yesterdays training session at the Ryton training ground.
City boss Chris Coleman had given his player a couple of days off to rest ahead of the two games, Derby at The Ricoh on Saturday and Reading at the Madjeski on Bank Holiday Monday.
The unfortunate Leon Barnett is ready to return in place of Wood, if he has not recovered in time. Barnett has missed several games after he received two red cards in consecutive games, at Newcastle and at home to Scunthorpe.
Coleman spoke about the two players, saying, “Woody can’t train all this week so we will have to see how he is but Barney is waiting for his chance again. He has been unlucky with his red cards and has been a model professional so he will be ready to step in if Woody is struggling at the weekend."
“He might be a bit rusty but we mustn’t forget he played a lot of games for West Brom the last time they got promoted from this league and he is more than capable of playing at this level.”
Responding to questions about the poor start City have made in their last three games Coleman said, “The derby game against Leicester took it out of us as well, where we played well in the second half, and again at West Brom where we were fantastic in the second half again, so it has taken its toll."
“I gave them a couple of days off because we have got a busy weekend coming up and there is the physical element as well as the mental side of it. The fact that they see each other every day and hear the same voices, so sometimes it is good for them to get away from football completely and spend a bit of time with their families and friends."
“Hopefully we will get a positive reaction from them and hopefully they will be straight back on it in training for the rest of the week. It is very important that we go about our business this weekend against Derby from the first minute, not the 45th minute onwards.
“If they are tired in the last 10-15 minutes, no problem, but you have got to start right from the first minute which we didn’t against Sheffield. but we have got to have a good end to the season, it is as simple as that."
“We have got a job to do and we have got to get back to what we do best and winning games. We don’t beat people by three or four and never have, but if we are winning we are strong enough to hold on to it and we have got to get back to that.”