City must do without Tommy Doherty until March as the injury jinx continues to bite into their season.

The midfield playmaker has missed the last four games and will go under the knife on Thursday to correct floating bone in his ankle.

Doherty, who saw the specialist yesterday, has been carrying the injury for a while and tried to play through the pain. But it flared up again in training, leaving City no choice but to book him in for an operation.

Peter Taylor said: “He turned his ankle over at the training ground because of the conditions. It wasn’t a tackle but he’s hurt it again and it looks likely he’ll have to get it done.

“He’s going to be out for up to six weeks unfortunately, which is another blow for us.

“Again talking to (Oxford boss) Chris Wilder on Saturday, he was absolutely over the moon that Doc wasn’t playing. That’s the difference he makes to the team because he gets on the ball.

“Up until the Cheltenham game he was different class. He was poor that day but he’s such an important player for us.”

Taylor’s frustration at losing another key component of his side is clear, though he does hope to have James Hanson and Shane Duff back for tonight’s clash at Aldershot.

Hanson came off the bench late on against Oxford after missing training all week with fluid on his knee. Without his hold-up play, City were unable to keep the ball long enough to take the heat off their over-worked defence.

Loan signing Mark Cullen and Omar Daley started up front, though both were replaced by Gareth Evans and Jake Speight. But all four strikers struggled to keep any meaningful possession.

Taylor added: “Not being able to play Hanson did not help us, although the front two should also have held the ball up better.

“All the supporters who went there will see there were times when we went to break out but the ball got to the forwards and they just lost it.

“We had two very good opportunities on the counter-attack but there were others when we could have done more.

“The ball would go into the strikers correctly but their two-touch (play) wasn’t as good as it needed to be.”

After failing to agree a deal to keep Jason Price, Taylor has no direct replacement for Hanson. Another addition now would probably involve moving another player out.

“I’ve been half-looking for something different up there because we definitely missed a targetman,” said the City boss. “But to do that, I’d have to look at swaps and things like that.

“As long as James hasn’t had any reaction – and at the moment he hasn’t – then I’m hoping he’ll be available for Aldershot.”

The constant casualty list means Taylor has not named an unchanged side all season; something that rankles with the manager as much as the supporters.

He added: “I got home on Saturday and asked my good lady how many times I’ve been able to pick the same team because of injuries?

“You look at Oxford, I knew what their team was going to be and it was exactly that.

“A fan stopped me and said ‘this is your best side’ and it had (Simon) Ramsden and (Michael) Flynn in it. I had to laugh because I totally agreed.

“Experience is so handy. You look at the two teams on Saturday and Oxford had miles more than us.”