Ryan Loft is unlikely to be available for Bristol Rovers' League One clash at Bolton Wanderers on Friday after the striker became the latest player in Joey Barton's squad to be struck down by an illness.
Barton was without the likes of Jordan Rossiter, John Marquis and Zain Westbrooke for Sunday's shock FA Cup defeat to Boreham Wood due to the bug, while Sam Finley and James Belshaw played despite feeling unwell. The manager has said it has now reached around half his squad to varying degrees over the past week.
Six-goal striker Loft – who has emerged as a key player for the Gas this season and has only just returned from a hamstring injury – is the latest man to go down, missing training on Wednesday and with the Gas travelling to Greater Manchester on Thursday, the 25-year-old is unlikely to improve sufficiently in time to make the trip.
"We lost Lofty this morning," Barton said at Wednesday's press conference. "It started with Anssi (Jaakkola) and it’s gone through about 50-60 per cent of the group and some have not been able to come in for a few days.
"Zain Westbrooke is saying he’s struggling to walk up the stairs and clearly there is something in the general population everywhere and there are a lot of people going down with it.
"It tends to be bad for 24-48 and then rumbles on for five or six days. We lost John Marquis and Zain Westbrooke on Sunday morning and we lost Jordan Rossiter on Thursday. We thought we lost Sam Finley, but luckily he felt fine and got on the bench.
"There are about five or six others with sniffles and coughs and it hasn’t quite got them as bad, but we’re hopefully coming out of it. Jordan is just coming out the other side. He should be in contention for Friday, but he hasn’t trained with the group yet.
"He hasn’t trained today but he’s saying he feels a lot better. He’s done a bit of work today albeit he hasn’t joined in with the group, but I think he will be OK, fingers crossed.
"I haven’t seen him (Loft), but John Marquis was ruled out of Sunday’s game and still couldn’t train today. If it lasts that long for Lofty, it’s going to make him a doubt for the game on Friday."
Until Sunday's aberration against Boreham Wood, the Gas had been on an impressive run, losing just once in 12 games, and Barton has demanded a strong response from his players at the University of Bolton Stadium against a team that occupies fifth place in the League One table.
But he will be without club captain Paul Coutts and winger Harry Anderson again. Both have missed several weeks with ankle and groin injuries respectively, although they are closing in on a return to contention. However, Friday's game comes too soon.
"They are both back on the grass but it is probably too tight for the weekend for the pair of them," Barton said.
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