Sam Nicholson is set to miss Bristol Rovers' trip to Northampton Town as a shin injury rumbles on, Joey Barton has revealed.
Nicholson has missed Rovers' past three games due to "severe" bruising sustained in the defeat at Newport County earlier this month. The pain is in a similar area to the tibia fracture the winger suffered earlier in the season, but there is no structural damage to the bone this time.
With five goals and four assists in League Two this season, Nicholson is sure to be a crucial player for the Gas in the run-in, however, the 27-year-old is yet to return to full training and looks likely to miss Saturday's game against promotion rivals Northampton.
"I don’t think so," Gas manager Barton replied when asked if the Scotsman could feature at Sixfields. "He was back jogging around today and I’ve seen him, but he hasn’t joined back in with the group yet.
"I don’t think he is earmarked to join back in with the group tomorrow, but you never know. I will imagine we will be looking at Carlisle. I think he is struggling on Saturday due to the fact he hasn’t trained with the group yet, but we’ll see in the morning.
"It’s just bruising, we’re waiting for a bruise to settle. It isn’t a… real injury. I shouldn’t say that, but I was shouting to Sammy this morning saying ‘How’s your bruise?’ It does sound terrible when you say that and I know it is really sore.
"He’s just got a kick on a sore part of his shin and he was struggling to weight-bear with it. We had to get it scanned again because he had that tibia stress fracture at the start of the season. Thankfully, there is nothing in there and it is just a bit of bruising.
"Sammy does get kicked quite a bit and that is, unfortunately, the perils of being a jinky, tricky winger who takes people on, certainly at League Two level. If they can’t keep up with you they tend to just boot you and Sammy is a victim of that.
"Unfortunately, the accumulation of that has meant he’s got a bit of severe bruising and we’ve missed him in recent weeks because he’s a huge player for us, but Rhino (Harry Anderson) and other people have gone in there and the team hasn’t skipped a beat and we’ve managed to keep the results profile superb."
Utility player Josh Grant will miss a 12th league game due to a knee injury, with midfielder Jon Nolan also set to miss out this weekend after he, like Nicholson, picked up an impact injury at Newport. Defender Alfie Kilgour is likely to miss the rest of the season after knee surgery.
But there is more promising news surrounding Leon Clarke, who has battled injuries throughout the season but Barton says he is desperate to make an impact in the final nine games. The veteran striker – who has scored twice in seven appearances – has missed the past four games with a groin injury.
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"Leon is chomping at the bit and he’s desperate to be involved, so we’ll see how a few of them get through training tomorrow," Barton said on Thursday.
"Josh is still not back with the group at this moment, so the weekend’s game will probably come a little too soon for him. But if we can add Leon to the group, his goal threat and his experience gives us something different, certainly in that final third.
"He’s been a big player for us when we’ve managed to get him on the pitch and I’m hoping to be able to do that a bit more regularly in the final part of the season."
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