Bristol City utility man Kal Naismith could face a spell on the sidelines after his recent calf injury appears worse than initially feared with Nigel Pearson laying some of the culpability at Preston North End and the state of the playing surface at Deepdale.
The defensive midfielder came off after 30 minutes in the 2-1 victory over Preston with manager Nigel Pearson hopeful it wasn't as severe as a similar injury sustained at the beginning of October which forced him to miss 10 matches over two months of action.
On Saturday, Pearson confirmed they would need two days to assess the extent of the issue but the 30-year-old didn't appear in too much discomfort when he was replaced by Joe Williams, suggesting he was taken off as a precaution.
The City manager wouldn't put a timeframe on his return this time around, ruling him out for Saturday's visit of Norwich City to Ashton Gate, but conceded he was seeing a specialist today (Thursday). Pearson also criticised the state of the pitch at Deepdale as a factor in Naismith picking up the issue.
"He's seeing someone today to get a more extensive view on the severity of it," Pearson said. "We'll just have to see how that one is but it's a similar area to last time. There's no real update on that apart from he won't be available for this week.
"Hopefully it won't be (as severe), but for Kal, I think that has been in his mind so we'll try and get to the bottom of it and you can't rush these things. It's more about allowing him to deal with that and we'll try and get him back as quickly as we can.
"As always with injuries, when we get them back we want them to stay available but it's not about trying to rush them back. I try not to worry about it because I know we work really hard to minimalise those injuries and certainly you can control things in a training environment but you can't control things in a game environment.
"It's probably no surprise in the sense that we pick up an injury on the softest, worst pitch that we've played on this year. That's where the game has changed.
"It's about what you're used to playing on and I think the modern pitches and the modern training facilities are of a generally high standard. It's unfortunate in a game situation but we'll just deal with it."
Naismith's absence means Williams will likely make his first start since the Boxing Day defeat to West Bromwich Albion. Although Andy King is also available in the holding role assuming Pearson sticks with his now-favoured 4-3-3 formation.
"Somebody like Joe Williams has come in and made a positive influence for us in games so he gets his opportunity," Pearson added. "When you have a tight squad you don't want to lose too many players and certainly key players but we'll just deal with it. It's fine."
Saturday will come too soon for wing-back Kane Wilson who returned to the field in the Under-21 victory over Everton last weekend while Tommy Conway remains sidelined with a hamstring injury. Ayman Benarous is a long-term absentee and won't feature this season after re-rupturing his ACL.
SIGN UP: For our daily Robins newsletter, bringing you the latest from Ashton Gate
READ NEXT
