Will Tomlinson facing Mansfield Town lay-off

“He has aggravated his groin and it's a reaction to an old injury,” said boss Graham Coughlan.

“With his previous injury he had a hernia op not too long ago. It just flares up every now and again.

“We thought we had him right and he completed a couple of days training last week, but it's obviously caught up with him.

“He will now need a few weeks off with TLC and really getting the injury right so he doesn't keep getting into that cycle of stop-start.

“He is about two or three weeks off.

“Otherwise there are a lot of egos bruised and hurt and a lot of pain around in the building which goes with where we are and the form we've inherited. Otherwise we've not too many fresh injuries.

On the injured Kellan Gordon and Craig Davies, not yet fit enough to start a game, he added: “Kellan should be a couple of weeks.

“Craig is making really good progress and working his socks off. He played in a game last week and there is another game next week he might feature in.”

With Tomlinson injured and Jacob Mellis told he can leave, Coughlan has already said he is in the market for a new midfielder in the current transfer window.