Oxford United will wait on the results of a scan to discover the extent of Matt Green’s ankle injury.
The striker, who hobbled off seven minutes from the end of the U’s 3-1 defeat at Kidderminster on Saturday, has been withdrawn from the England C party for the friendly international against a Polish under 23 team tonight.
The initial reaction to Green’s injury was that he would probably be sidelined for a fortnight.
Boss Chris Wilder said straight after the final whistle at Aggborough that he wasn’t surprised the player picked up an injury because he had been too individualistic in his play, and hinted that he was inviting fierce challenges.
“He’s struggling by the looks of it,” the manager said, “and could be out for two or three weeks, but we’ll have to wait and see.
“I’m not surprised he got injured the way he was playing. He wanted to beat everybody and took on people when there was an easy pass to be had.”
If Green is ruled out of United’s next two games – against Barrow at the Kassam Stadium on Saturday, and at Forest Green Rovers next Tuesday – it will be a big blow because they will also be without Scottish defender Steven Kinniburgh for both matches.
United received confirmation yesterday that the left back, who won the award for Oxford United’s player of the month for October, would be suspended for two games following his red card at Kidderminster.
He was sent off for denying a goalscoring opportunity when he brought down the dangerous Matthew Barnes-Homer to concede a penalty in the second half.
That normally carries a one-game ban, but because it was Kinniburgh’s second sending-off of the season – he was also dismissed in the 1-0 win at Wrexham on September 12 – the punishment is doubled.
l OXFORD United have drifted from 1-2 to 8-13 for the Blue Square Premier title with the league sponsors after suffering only their second defeat of the season at Kidderminster.
Blue Square Premier (sponsors odds): 8-13 Oxford Utd, 4-1 Luton Tn, 7-1 Stevenage Borough, 10-1 Mansfield Tn, Kettering Tn, 20-1 York City, 25-1 Rushden.
Meanwhile, promotion hopefuls Kettering Town have appointed goalkeeper Lee Harper as their new player-manager, initially until the end of the season.
Harper, 38, replaces Mark Cooper, who left the Poppies at the weekend to take over at Championship strugglers Peterborough United.
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