SAM Baldock is set to miss a large part of Oxford United’s run-in with a ‘significant’ knee injury.
The U’s striker came off in the second half of last Saturday’s 4-1 win over Burton Albion after scoring twice before the break.
Meanwhile, Karl Robinson confirmed Marcus Browne is likely to be out for a similar spell with a hamstring issue, having said last weekend that the forward would miss up to six weeks.
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Both players will have follow-up scans before the end of the month to see how their recoveries are progressing.
United head coach Robinson told the Oxford Mail: “Sam Baldock has got a significant knee injury.
“He will be re-scanned in two to three weeks to see how far down the line that is, but it is significant.
“To put a timescale on that is difficult, because you don’t want to completely say it’s the season because he could be back before.
“But you don’t want to say it’s going to be earlier than that and all of a sudden people say ‘why is he not back fit?’.
“We’ve got to take it in small blocks and rescan it along the way.
“He’s desperate to get back playing, he says it’s one of the best he’s felt.”
Baldock has been excellent since arriving as a free agent at the start of February, scoring four times in seven matches.
Marcus Browne is also out Picture: Steve Daniels
Browne only played twice before his latest injury but still made an impact, putting United in front at Portsmouth last Tuesday. He came off with the hamstring problem in the second half.
Robinson said: “Marcus Browne will be very similar, a significant amount of time.
“The two injuries are so different and we’ve had one or two Covid situations this week as well.
“It’s not been a great week when it comes to preparing for the game at the weekend.”
There are two positive pieces of injury news for United, with Billy Bodin set to be available for Saturday's Sky Bet League One trip to Shrewsbury Town.
The forward has been missing since sustaining a calf problem against Bolton Wanderers on February 12, when he scored twice.
Meanwhile, James Henry could return after calf and groin injuries forced him to miss most of the last two months.
Robinson said: “He’s in a better place with the calf now.
“It might be a bit of a push, but if we wanted we could have him on the bench.”
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