Jon Dahl Tomasson is concerned that defender Joe Rankin-Costello could be facing a long time out of the game due to the hamstring injury he picked up in Saturday’s win at Norwich City, according to a report in the Lancashire Telegraph.
The Stockport-born defender came off just after the hour mark in the impressive 3-1 win at Carrow Road and the manager believes it is a bad injury that will only add to the defensive shortage the club is currently experiencing. First-choice centre-backs Dom Hyam and Hayden Carter are due to miss Rovers’ next match through injury and Scott Wharton is set to miss out through suspension.
Rankin-Costello has featured in 14 of 15 Championship games this season and his absence is likely to lead to a makeshift defence against Preston North End, potentially meaning the first minutes of the season for Tom Atcheson or Jake Batty although the club are considering whether to appeal Wharton’s red card.
Tomasson claimed the defender has a history of hamstring issues and that he will have a scan this week. “It doesn’t look great. He will have a scan tomorrow but Joe has a history regarding hamstrings,” said the Dane.
He continued, “When he was at the academy, he had a lot of issues. Hopefully, we’ll keep our fingers crossed but it doesn’t look great at the moment.”
The news leaves Rovers short as they prepare to welcome Preston to Ewood Park but the manager understands that they will have to cope. “Harry Pickering went from left-back to a central defender, he coped well with the situation. It’s not the best situation. We cut the budget in the summer, it was difficult to get players in. We let Ayala and Phillips go and we only got James in. He is playing excellent, very good football, a leader. We have to cope with it, that’s why our CEO didn’t put the biggest expectation out there.”
Writer’s View
Blackburn continues to perform well this season, particularly after budget cuts during the summer, and find themselves just a victory away from the playoff places and beating Preston could see them go into the international break in the top six. The club are due to have an internal match at the Brockhall training ground to give minutes to those who haven’t been involved in the first team and will have an eye on Friday during this exercise.
It will be incredibly disappointing for the Rovers’ management as they go into their next match in fine form having won four of their last five but the injury woes keep mounting. One positive for the club is that there is a two-week international break after Friday’s match to give those injured players time to get closer to fitness.
