By Will Scott
STRIKER Josh Coburn is set to miss at least eight weeks after suffering a broken metatarsal during Millwall’s 1-1 draw with Oxford United last Saturday.
Coburn limped off the pitch at half-time, adding to the Lions’ growing list of absences for their clash with Coventry City this Saturday. Jake Cooper has been sidelined until late January with a knee injury, while Japhet Tanganga is suspended after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season against the U’s.
Captain Shaun Hutchinson is also set to miss out this weekend with a hamstring injury, but Harris confirmed there were no long-term concerns. Duncan Watmore will likely make his return against the Sky Blues after missing the Lions’ last two match-day squads through illness.
“I’ll start with the good news,” Harris said.
“Hutch has a very low-level hamstring injury. It will very likely be a no for the weekend but will be much more positive for next week whether that’s Sheffield United or Middlesbrough.
“Duncan Watmore is healthy again, he really struggled last week. We’re really thankful that Dunc is okay and he’s back into training so should come back into the squad for the weekend.
“Josh Coburn has got a broken metatarsal, so he’s going to be in a boot for minimum six weeks. We’re certainly not going to see him for the next eight weeks. We’ll be quite fortunate if he’s on the same sort of time pathway as Jake Cooper. So we’re looking at January for both of them. But realistically we’re not going to see Josh for at least eight weeks.
Midfielder Daniel Kelly was substituted early during the under-21s match against Watford yesterday, and is another potential injury concern.
“Dan Kelly came off very early in the game with an ankle ligament injury. He’s going to be assessed this morning, so I’ll know a lot more in the next 48 hours, but it was very swollen and bruised very early on.
“Like Josh it was a contact injury, something completely out of our control. Just one of those unfortunate ones. It could be fine very quickly, but we feel a little bit unfortunate that you lose Jake Cooper and then you lose Josh Coburn to impacts and Dan Kelly could be the same.”
