KARL Robinson expects Marcus McGuane's thigh injury to keep the midfielder out for 'four or five weeks'.

The Nottingham Forest loanee went down after playing a pass in the early stages of Oxford United's win over Bristol Rovers on Saturday.

He was replaced by Cameron Brannagan, who comes in for McGuane at Rochdale in Sky Bet League One tonight.

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While the injury is not as bad as first feared, the 21-year-old could miss nine matches even if he is only out for a month.

U's head coach Robinson said: “It’s probably about four or five weeks.

“I’m sure everyone at the time was worried it would be an awful lot longer than that.

“You never want it to be that – it’s still long enough, especially in this current climate with what we’ve got coming up.”