Thursday 18 November 2010 15:36, UK
Walsall skipper Darren Byfield will be out for another four to six weeks as his knee injury is worse than first diagnosed.
The striker has not featured for the Saddlers since landing awkwardly in the 2-1 home defeat against Swindon back in mid-September, and it now looks unlikely that he will play again before Christmas. The injury will not require surgery, but does come as a big blow to both the 34-year-old and manager Chris Hutchings. "It's a Grade two injury rather than a Grade one," the Walsall boss told the club's official website. "It's extremely disappointing. He's been doing all the straight line running but has been having problems twisting and turning which of course is a big part of his game. "We thought we'd got to the nitty-gritty of it but the original scan didn't show up how badly he had done it at first. This sometimes happens and is no-one's fault. "It's going to take time for the knee to strengthen correctly, sadly there is no easy way around it. On the positive side, the specialist has said he doesn't need an operation, he's hyper-extended everything so there's a little bit of movement there and we've got to stabilise it, therefore he's got a brace on to keep it steady."