Garry Monk has confirmed that Cambridge United will be without Shayne Lavery for at least six weeks ahead of their EFL Trophy game.
The U’s play fellow League One side Charlton Athletic in the cup competition, having beaten Bromley in the first round via penalties to secure two points so far. They are still in search of their first win in any competition and are rooted to the foot of the third tier.
But Cambridge will be without star man Shayne Lavery for at least the next month as Garry Monk confirmed his absence to BBC Radio Cambridgeshire. He said: “It’s unfortunately not the greatest news. It’s a hamstring strain so we’re looking at a pretty lengthy number of weeks out.
“I can’t say the exact amount of weeks but it will be between six and eight weeks, maybe longer. It’s really a big blow for us.
“What he felt, we were hoping it would be a bit better than that, so yeah, probably the worst news we could have had.”
The Northern Irish striker is the club’s joint-top scorer this season with two goals alongside wingback Emmanuel Longelo. The on-loan Birmingham City player has also contributed an additional assist to Lavery in the game against Blackpool.
A blow to their star man means that Ryan Loft and 19-year-old Brandon Njoku are the only out-and-out strikers left in the squad, with the latter being used four times this season already. After joining from Port Vale this summer, Loft has yet to feature at The Abbey Stadium.
On how his club will deal with the void left by Lavery, former Swansea City boss Monk added: “Look, it is what it is. We’ll have to try and overcome these obstacles.
“I feel for Shayne, I feel for us, I felt he was gonna get better and better. But we have to deal with that now, rejig some things around and move forward.”
Writer’s View
In what is already a tough time for Cambridge United losing the key man in Shayne Lavery is brutal. He is the best chance they have in surviving the drop so losing him for an extended period will be the toughest test The U’s will face going forward. There might be some solace in how difficult the fixture list will be in coming weeks including Lincoln City, Rotherham United and Birmingham City and the potential to pick up points in those fixtures were already low.
It is also big news for Brandon Njoku. At 19 he is now the presumptive heir to the striker spot at Cambridge, and if his cameo against Blackpool is anything to go by it could make his career. He only made his EFL debut this season and will now be going toe-to-toe with some of League One’s best defenders. It will be tough but his main aim should be giving a good account of himself in weeks to come.
We are going to be relegated anyway. This is probably the “icing on the cake”.