Johnson blow for Forest

The 26-year-old has been in prolific form for Forest so far this season and has banged in 24 goals for Paul Hart's side as they chase promotion to The Premiership.

The former Ipswich Town man has been a main reason behind Forest's good showing in Division One, but has been suffering with his knee for some time.

Exploratory surgery was called for and that showed on Wednesday that he had torn his cruciate ligament and will need to undergo a stringent rehabilitation period, which is expected to last around six weeks.

Hart confirmed the news to the club's website, saying: "Obviously, it's a major blow to us because nobody wants to lose a player of David's calibre for any length of time.

"But while we are bitterly disappointed about that we are relieved that we have got to the bottom of his problem and that he can get himself back to full fitness as quickly as possible.

"There was no need for major surgery and the fact that he has been able to carry on playing for the last month after suffering the injury at Wimbledon means that it is not too serious.

"David will be able to get down to rehabilitation work immediately and we look forward to him making good progress."

Hart will be glad he brought in Darren Huckerby on loan and the Manchester City man may now get an extended run in the side.

Johnson will be gutted to miss out on an exciting period for the club, but he will be hoping to come back with them still well in the promotion hunt and could provide a late boost to fire them into The Premiership.