ANTONI Sarcevic could face a couple of months on the City sidelines.

A second scan showed his knee problem was more serious than first hoped and the midfielder is set for an extended spell out of action.

Sarcevic originally felt the issue on the opening day at MK Dons but played through the pain – only to suffer further discomfort in the first home game with Salford.

Graham Alexander confirmed this afternoon: “We had a further scan and there’s a little bit more than first feared. He’s going to be out for a while longer unfortunately.

“We have to see how that settles down. But he’s probably not going to be available for a month or two.

“He played on it again and then again. It’s one of those when a player nurses a bit of soreness.

“Then he had a shot towards the end of the Salford game. The keeper saved it but he got shoved off the pitch and banged his knee as he landed.

“It’s flared something up so the original scan was not as conclusive because of the swelling.

“We scanned it again 10 days or two weeks after and it’s a little bit more severe.

“It’s really disappointing and we’re gutted for Sarce because he made a great start to the season.

“He showed everyone what a top player he is and a winner. But he’s going to be missing for a bit which is disappointing for us and for him.

“He was devastated when he got the news because he was so excited about playing for Bradford City.”

It is an area where the Bantams are well stocked with plenty of competition for the midfield slots.

The City boss added: “We want to maintain that competition. I don’t want to be down to the bare bones if it ever got to that and it’s easy for me to pick the team.

“I want these decisions to make and we’ve certainly had that all the way through pre-season and into the start of the season.

“That is the most in-depth position in the squad. We purposely built it like that because we feel these players can play in other positions.

“We all want our players fit so we can have these decisions to make and unfortunately we’re not going to have Sarce for a bit.”

There is better news on Aden Baldwin who was doing some running today on the training pitch with the medical team.

But Alexander revealed Calum Kavanagh is still out for Saturday’s trip to Walsall with a persistent niggle.

“He’s not trained with us yet. We thought he might be able to join in yesterday but it’s not the case.

“We’re going to give him a few more days and hopefully it will be Monday or Tuesday next week now.”