Nicky Law may be forced to dive into the loan market as he prepared to write off Jason Gavin until the new year.

The beleaguered City boss lost Gavin and Paul Heckingbottom to injuries as his side slumped to their fifth home defeat of the season against Ipswich.

Skipper David Wetherall is also struggling to make tomorrow's critical trip to Crewe after clashing heads with Shefki Kuqi.

The problems are piling up for City who have taken only one point from five games and Law now faces an injury crisis in defence.

Mark Bower, a natural replacement, is still recovering from breaking his ankle in the summer so Law could look for short-term assistance to plug the gaps.

He said: "As a club we would rather not bring in loan players. But with the state we're in and the growing number of injuries, we may have to look seriously at it over the next week.

"We've got another big game against Crewe tomorrow and the squad is getting smaller and smaller.

"A decision will have to be made on Jason but it's a reluctant one because if he has to have an operation that will be him out for at least three months.

"With the small and inexperienced squad here, we don't want to be losing our more senior players.

"Dave Wetherall got a nasty cut on the head and is not feeling too great and we've also lost Paul Heckingbottom to a calf strain. The injury list is getting bigger and bigger but we've just got to cope with it."

City have still won only once at the Bradford & Bingley Stadium this season and never looked like improving that wretched record on Saturday.

They stayed fourth from bottom although Rotherham moved within a point and Watford, next week's opponents, are three behind with two games in hand.

But Law continues to back his players and insisted: "When you look at what we are up against, they are over-achieving at the moment.

"Confidence is a factor in everything and you have to dig in when it's tough like it is for us because nobody is going to feel sorry for you.

"We have to keep putting the performances in because you aren't always going to come up against teams with the quality of Ipswich. The playes have got to take heart from the way they finished the game.

"We had a go and just fell short but not for the want of trying. It's difficult, particularly for our young lads, but they do their best and that's all you can ask from them."