Notts County's top scorer Kyle Wootton has been ruled out of Tuesday night's trip to Dover, Ian Burchnall has confirmed.
The forward picked up a slight back issue in Saturday's 3-1 win over Weymouth and had to be replaced with 10 minutes remaining. Wootton, who has scored 21 goals this season, did not train on Monday as he underwent treatment for the problem which is not thought to be serious.
But Burchnall says that has now put him out of contention for the long trip south although he hopes he will be back for the trip to Aldershot at the weekend. "Kyle was struggling a little bit with his back so probably just needs a bit of a rest," he said. "He didn't train but nothing major. He's had some treatment. He won't be available for the game on Tuesday night.
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"But that is being a bit cautious and hopefully all being well he should be back for the weekend. We looked at the games and we said that he would need a break at some point. He got a couple of big hits on it from the centre-backs at the weekend.
"It figures that it makes sense to do it now. We will give him a rest, freshen him up because it's important not to take gambles at this stage."
Tuesday's game will be the third time Notts have made the trip to Dover with the last two games having been postponed. And they will face a side who despite already being relegated have given some of the top sides in the league a real fright in recent weeks.
Chesterfield, Wrexham and Stockport have all struggled to overcome Andy Hessenthaler's side which proves they are still putting up a fight despite a miserable season. Notts could go fifth with a win, but Burchnall had words of caution for his players telling them they should not underestimate their threat.
"I watched the Chesterfield game and some of their last home game against Woking," he said. "They are a young team and credit to Andy Hessenthaler there. They've started the season on minus points and had to fight to get to zero.
"They are at that point where they know they are down but they aren't giving up. Anybody that can rally the group and get them to put in performances like going 2-1 up at Chesterfield, 5-2 away at Wrexham and they only got beat by a late goal from Stockport.
"They are not giving up and they are showing that in their performances. They are playing with huge enthusiasm. Of course, they have been a little bit open and conceded a lot of goals, but they are not making it easy for teams to play against them.
"Credit to them. They are not playing like a team that is totally defeated. They want to still prove something and we have to be ready for that."
