Iron manager Russ Wilcox confirmed the extent of Deon Burton’s injury after the Capital One Cup loss to Reading.
Burton missed Saturday’s draw at Yeovil as a precaution, but scans have showed the injury appears a lot worse than first thought.“We got the news Deon Burton’s going to be out for six to eight weeks with a medial ligament injury so the list grows,” Wilcox told The Iron Player.
“It’s a fresh injury - he had the whack at Carlton in pre-season, whether that’s put pressure on part of his knee, I don’t know.
“All I know is he had his scan on Tuesday and there’s a grade two tear, which is disappointing news.”
Burton adds to the ever-growing Iron list of injuries to Wilcox’s squad, with Dave Syers, David Mirfin, Sam Slocombe and James Severn all out.
"Our physio has never know anything like this,” he added. “We've had five serious injuries now.
“We’ve had bad luck with injuries and suspensions from day one this season - Dave Syers out of the season after five minutes, Marcus Williams sent off, injury after injury.”
Nicky Featherstone was brought in on a free transfer after a successful trial and he can add competition for places in midfield in Syers’ absence.
The manager confirmed he may look further afield to replace Burton, with Curtis Bateson only recently leaving on loan for minutes at Gainsborough:
“Will I look? Without a doubt," he added.
“I’ll speak to the chairman. It would be nice to get a big player in for a plan B.
"On Tuesday we threw Miles (Addison) up there towards the end so we’ll look for a bigger forward.
“If we can’t do that, it’s no problem - I’ll work with what I’ve got. The chairman hasn’t got money to throw at it all of the time, he’s backed us all the way so far so if we can’t do anything then it’s no issue.”
See much more from Russ Wilcox, and others, on The Iron Player.