GARY Rowett hopes Greg Leigh will only be unavailable for ‘a week or two’ as opposed to anything longer.
The Oxford United left back was forced off with a hamstring strain picked up in first half stoppage time of the defeat at home against Portsmouth.
Fortunately for the U’s, Joe Bennett returned to first team training last month following a long-term ankle injury.
Bennett suffered the injury during the first half of United’s 3-1 win at home to Preston North End on August 31, and now looks set to make his comeback for the trip to West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.
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Rowett said of the injury to Leigh: “He just tweaked his hamstring. He didn’t feel like it was too serious, but that was just Greg’s initial feeling.
“I’m sure we’ll find out a little bit more over the week I’d imagine. It’ll probably be quite difficult to come back very quickly, but hopefully it’s just a matter of a week or two rather than five or six weeks.
“We’ve got Joe who can certainly play in there as the obvious one. We’ve got Ciaron [Brown] who has done really well at centre back, but of course Ciaron could go in there also.
“We’ve got one or two options, and we’ll work through those in the week.”
At home against Pompey, Rowett introduced Sam Long in a direct switch with Leigh at left back.
It was something of a surprise move, with fans most likely expecting Brown to shuffle across to left back, with Long then at centre half.
Rowett said: “I didn’t want to disrupt the backline. At that point, we wanted to get to half-time and not to disrupt too much.
“I felt as though putting Browny to left back and Longy to centre half might’ve given them a little bit of an opportunity to then start being a little bit more direct.
“I thought we were dealing quite well with those long balls forward. That’s the gamble when you don’t have a left back on the bench, but I’ve always done that.
“I like a bit of flexibility, but it leaves you open when a player does get injured.
“Joe Bennett has been training for two or three weeks, so of course he would be a natural replacement for Greg.
“I don’t think it looks too serious. It’s more the fact that again we’ve had a break in play, and it becomes difficult to manage that physically a little bit.”
Leigh has started in each of the 13 games since Rowett was appointed head coach, and was in the starting line-up for the eight matches prior to his appointment.