LEWIS Richards is having a scan on his injured shoulder as City face up to yet another absentee.

Richards was forced off near the end of the Colchester game on Saturday after his left shoulder popped out.

He needed lengthy treatment from the club’s medical staff before being guided around the perimeter of the pitch – and was on oxygen in the dressing room afterwards to help deal with the pain.

City will assess the extent of the problem but Richards will certainly not face Rotherham in the EFL Trophy tomorrow night and it is doubtful he would be ready for Accrington's visit to Valley Parade at the weekend.

With Tyreik Wright out until the new year with a thigh injury, that leaves Clarke Oduor as the only clear candidate to fill the hole at left wing-back.

Graham Alexander admitted: “You build a squad and think, ‘yeah, if we lose this player, we’ve got that one as cover’.

“But it seems to be bang, bang, bang at the same spot.

“We’ll make sure we look after Lewis first of all. He’s had a tough week.

“We’ll see how he is and then we have to plan and prepare for the game on Tuesday.”

Aden Baldwin, Alex Pattison and Antoni Sarcevic continued their rehab work over the weekend with a private session at the training ground.

The City boss is hopeful that at least two of them will be ready to re-join the rest in the coming days.

“The plan was to include them in some sort of capacity in training this week,” he added. “Fingers crossed that’s what is going to happen because we obviously need them back.”