Manager Keith Hill has confirmed that Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and Joe Rafferty missed Sunday’s FA Cup tie v Bury through injury.
Mendez-Laing has a groin injury, while Rafferty has had a recurrence of the stomach problem which had previously kept him side lined.
“Nathaniel’s injury is in a difficult position for him as a football player, with him striking the ball, checking, turning, speed etc,” said Hill.
“He was a big key figure in our recent successes against Swindon in the FA Cup and it was a shame really.
“Joe Raff is going to be out for a fair period of time after a recurrence of his previous injury . We’ve not got to the bottom of it and I don’t think he was 100-percent proper mended, so we’re going back to the specialist with him. But hopefully we’ll have Nathaniel back shortly.
And Hill again confirmed that Jamie Allen remains side-lined with the dead-leg problem (his calf) which he sustained at the end of October.
“Jamie is still about another two weeks away from being on the training pitch so he’s got a lot of catching up to do.
“Dead-legs can be very, very complicated. They can take a long time depending on the severity of them and Jamie has got the worst type that the specialist has ever seen. He tried his best to come back in training but it just wasn’t freeing itself up.
“What I do forget is that Jamie is only 20 and I forget that Callum Camps is only 20, as is Scott Tanser and Andy Cannon is even younger. You do forget and sometimes I’ve got to realise that they have a massive career in front of them and they’re only at the start of their career. We ask so much of these players but these are the demands of the modern game.”
The full interview is on Dale PlayerHD.