Two defenders ruled out of Sheffield Wednesday v Oxford United clash as boss admits ‘major concern’
Oxford United could be without two key defenders for this weekend’s trip to Sheffield Wednesday.
Gary Rowett spoke in furious tones about his side’s performance in defeat to QPR in midweek, a result that failed to build on a shock defeat over Owls city rivals Sheffield United over the weekend. Oxford are in decent shape in the relegation battle with three points and four teams separating them from the bottom three.
Reigning Wednesday player of the season Will Vaulks is expected to take a place in the Us midfield, though they look likely to be without at least one important defender for the South Yorkshire trip, with another subject to medical checks.
Northern Ireland international Ciaron Brown had played every minute of Championship action for Oxford until he had to be substituted early on in that 3-1 QPR defeat on Tuesday evening. A leader in the Us defence who plays out from the left side, Rowett said his injury looked ominous.
“I think Browny certainly looks quite a bad one,” he said. “It was a block tackle, and I’m worried whether one of the ligaments in his knee has been damaged. To what degree, I don’t really know. Of course, that’s something that would be a huge concern for us.”
Another defensive injury for Oxford comes on the right, with Hidde van Avest taken off via concussion substitution just after the hour. Players are now subject to stringent concussion rulings and depending on the severity of the issue, he could also sit out.
Rowett continued: “I think Hidde was more a bang to the head, and as a precaution, we took him off and used one of the concussion subs, but I don’t know if he was actually concussed, so we’ll have to check that out and obviously make sure that the player’s safe first and foremost. We’ll have to make decisions around that with the medical team.”
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