City’s injury problems show no sign of easing in the final weeks of the season
Lewie Coyle was helped off the pitch by Hull City’s medical staff at West Brom(Image: Cody Froggatt/PA Wire/PA Images)
Hull City are facing another anxious wait over the fitness of one of their key players as attention turns to Saturday’s must-win Yorkshire derby with already relegated Sheffield Wednesday.
Lewie Coyle was helped off the Hawthorns pitch on Saturday after taking a heavy kick to his ankle before half-time of City’s 3-0 thumping at West Brom.
The kick he was on the wrong end of, which, like at Ipswich Town, went unpunished much to the frustration of the City camp, was a recurrence of the ankle injury he sustained in Suffolk earlier this month.
Coyle boarded City’s team coach for the long trek back to East Yorkshire with his foot in a protective boot and he is scheduled to have an MRI scan in the next 48 hours to determine the extent of any potential damage, though Tigers boss Sergej Jakirovic was fearing the worst.
The initial injury he picked up at Ipswich Town saw him play against Millwall, but he was left out of the side that won at Wrexham on Tuesday night, and could now face a spell on the sidelines.
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Losing Coyle would come as a hammer blow to Jakirovic and City, with Cody Drameh his only fit full-back heading into this weekend’s visit of the bottom side.
Ryan Giles, Matty Jacob and Akin Famewo are all sidelined until next month, leaving City with a real problem on that side of defence. Liam Millar has operated at left wing-back at times but really struggled against Albion and was taken off in the immediate aftermath of Charlie Hughes’ red card before half-time.
The Tigers are not expected to have any of their injured players back before they return to action after the international break, but will hope both Cody Drameh and Paddy McNair are fit to start this weekend.
McNair was excellent at Wrexham, while Drameh has impressed since coming back into the side, but it was deemed neither were fit to start again so soon after the trip to North Wales given the pair have not played a huge amount in recent weeks.
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