Derby County manager Paul Warne has given an update on recent injury news that is set to impact the coming fixtures.
Derby County returned to second place in League One as they beat Bristol Rovers at the Memorial Stadium. In an impressive performance, the Rams took the lead in the second half as Dwight Gayle bundled home his second in as many games.
Just moments later, the lead was doubled as Nathaniel Mendez-Laing‘s cross found Tom Barkhuizen for a clever first-time finish. Martyn Waghorn got in on the act in the final few minutes with a close-range finish to seal all three points.
It rounded out an ideal day for Paul Warne, who was handed a slight boost in the race for promotion with results elsewhere. There was one key absence from the team sheet in Bristol though, with a fresh injury for Derby.
Max Bird injury latest
Max Bird was absent from Derby’s squad to face Bristol Rovers, with the academy graduate suffering an injury during the week. Youngster Darren Robinson took his place on the bench, while Conor Hourihane came into the first-team.
Warne gave an update on the injury to the RamsTV, saying: “Birdy [Max Bird] felt his calf Tuesday in the warm-up, so unfortunately he’s going to be missing for a few weeks. It’s not too severe, but I think he’s missing for another three weeks at least.”
Assuming that Bird is injured for that three week period, it means he should be back in contention for either Blackpool in late March or Portsmouth in early April. It does mean that the midfielder is likely to miss the key clash with Bolton Wanderers.
Fortunately, there are quite a few options at the disposal of Warne for the coming weeks, but he won’t want many more injuries stacking up.