Kyle Nix is the latest victim of City’s midfield injury jinx.
Nix was facing a hospital scan today on the ankle problem which has hindered him all season.
The 22-year-old has struggled to reproduce the form of his first year at Valley Parade and boss Stuart McCall believes that is down to trying to play through the discomfort.
“I’ve been there before as a player and you don’t do yourself any justice trying to carry on at 75-80 per cent,” said McCall.
“Nixy hasn’t rediscovered the form he showed for us last season but he’s had this problem since the start.
“In fairness to him, he’s been trying to help out the squad by keeping going and knows we’ve had a few injuries, particularly in midfield, but we need to have his ankle sorted.
“If the ankle joint needs cleaning up and he requires a couple of weeks’ rest, then that’s what we’ll do because we want to get it right.”
With Nix out, McCall is now missing SIX midfielders for Saturday’s daunting FA Cup trip to League One high-fliers MK Dons.
Four others are already injured and McCall’s weekend plans were further rocked when Huddersfield blocked Tom Clarke from featuring. The on-loan Clarke had already been pencilled in for a central-midfield role at stadiummk.
Mark Bower and Paul Heckingbottom both returned to training on Monday but McCall may shy on the side of caution with both players because he has other defensive options.
He is similarly stocked up front but has hinted there may be an opening for a couple of the fringe players, particularly as clubs can name seven subs for FA Cup ties.
Rory Boulding, Leon Osborne and Willy Topp are all pushing for a chance to stake their first-team claim.
“I’m going to see who we’ve got available because three or four are carrying knocks but whatever team I put out on Saturday will have a real go,” said McCall.
“With the injuries, it’s good in a way that we’ve got the FA Cup coming up but we want to give a strong account of ourselves and try to win the game.
“One or two of the lads who’ve not been in regularly might come into the reckoning but we’ll look at it.”
Meanwhile, City are in line for a £30,000 windfall for live TV coverage. Sky will show the home game against Darlington, which has now been moved forward 24 hours to Monday, February 2.
The first clash with the Quakers a fortnight ago was also broadcast by Sky, with Darlington nicking it 2-1 after a last-minute own goal from Graeme Lee.
City have not been shown live at Valley Parade since October 2005.
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