Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna says his team paid the price for a busy period today by seeing two key men limp off in a 3-1 home win against Birmingham City.
Right-winger Wes Burns was forced off in the 20th minute, while Nathan Broadhead had to be withdrawn just after the hour.
“I think you can safely say that’s the only disappointment of the day,” said McKenna.
“Wes looks like he’s strained his calf, Nathan has probably strained his thigh and Conor (Chaplin, who came off in the 90th minute) was a heavy knock.
“Look, we’ve had five games in 15 days and these boys are pushing to the maximum.
“It’s been a really busy spell and we’ve probably paid the price today with the two muscle injuries. We have to try and limit the damage from that as much as we can.
“We’ve got a free midweek now and that’s important.
We have a long trip next week to a well-known territory next weekend (Plymouth) and we’ll try and do everything we can this week to be as ready as we can.”
Town remain third in the Championship table, level on points with second-place Leeds, with 12 games to go.
The 23-year-old full-back returned to parent club Manchester United in January for ‘medical assessment’ following a series of repeated illnesses and ‘knocks’.
On February 2, McKenna said he expected Williams to return to the club ‘in 10-14 days’. That was three weeks ago.
“We were hoping that would be the timescale, but he’s a had a set-back in his recovery,” said the Blues boss.
He’s still at United, he’s not training yet. We’re not sure how long the set-back is going to take, but he’s not even on the grass with them yet. So he’s still a little way away.”
Town take on Birmingham City in a Championship clash at Portman Road tomorrow. Asked for injury updates following Tuesday night’s 4-3 home win against Rotherham, McKenna said: “I think we’ve come through it pretty well.
