Nottingham Forest boss Steve Cooper reiterated his ‘next man up’ mantra as he confirmed striker Keinan Davis is expected to miss the remainder of the regular season.
The Aston Villa loanee was forced off with a hamstring problem in last week’s 1-0 defeat at Luton Town. It is an injury which is set to sideline him for about four to five weeks, although Cooper remained coy on whether he could return in time for the play-offs, should the Reds secure a top-six finish.
Forest were also without fellow front man Lewis Grabban against West Bromwich Albion, with the club captain absent due to illness. But January signing Sam Surridge seized the opportunity as he made his first league start in the Garibaldi.
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Surridge applied a clinical finish to round off the scoring in a 4-0 victory. It marked an important return to winning ways for the Reds, on the back of Friday’s loss, with Brennan Johnson, Ryan Yates and Jack Colback also on the scoresheet.
“Next man up. It’s disappointing that Keinan is out, obviously, and we feel for him,” said Cooper.
“We’ve really enjoyed him. And the fans have really taken to him. But he’s not going anywhere - he’s still here and he’ll do his rehab here.
“He won’t play now until next season. I say it like he’s out for the season, but there’s only three weeks or so left.
“Lewis was ill. But Sam deserved to start, and Brennan was Brennan. And we’ve scored four goals.
“Lewis is sick. Hopefully it’s just a 24 or 48-hour thing. He went home early on Sunday. We sent him home hoping that he would recover to be involved. We had ruled him out starting.
“He’s done everything to get back from his ankle injury, probably a little bit too soon at times, because he’s pushed himself. It was a kick in the teeth for him really, not to be involved again.”
Asked if Davis could potentially be back for the play-offs, Cooper said: “We don’t know what’s going to happen. We’re focusing on the next game, and we’re not looking any further than the Hull game. We’ve got five games left in less than three weeks; he won’t be available in that.”
