Milton Keynes Dons have been dealt a double injury blow ahead of their home League One fixture with Oxford United.
In his pre-match press conference today, Dons head coach Mark Jackson revealed that striker Joshua Kayode will miss the remainder of the 2022-23 campaign while recent signing Anthony Stewart is also set to miss time.
Kayode, who joined the Dons on loan from Rotherham United last summer, has been limited to just six appearances for the club after suffering an injury early in the campaign. Now, he will not feature again at Stadium MK after suffering a freak injury in training that will require surgery.
As for Stewart, he will have to continue to wait to make his debut for the club after also suffering a training ground injury, with a suspension carried over from his time in Scotland preventing him from playing in last weekend's victory over Bristol Rovers.
Speaking to the media, Jackson explained: "We’ve had two blows. JJ has suffered an injury on his return to training which is really unfortunate. He was doing everything right and was looking strong but through once action he's damaged his quad."
"He’ll undergo surgery that so will miss the rest of the season. It is a real blow for us but also for JJ himself. He had worked so hard to get back from his previous injury and he had ticked off everything that we needed to take off. It came out of the blue and it is a real blow."
"Similarly, Anthony Stewart has done everything right since joining us. He’s been playing and training all season but he's also picked up an injury – another freakish injury within training – that we could do nothing to prevent."
"We are still assessing it to see the extent of the problem but we’re talking weeks not days. We are hopeful it might not be too long but we've also got to prepare ourselves for the worst just in case. There is no specific time frame on it as yet."
"It’s a kick in the teeth for us and the player. Anthony was devastated but one of the reasons we brought him here was because of his leadership and he’s keen to stay around the group."
"It’s knocked him for six a little bit but he’s been involved in all our meetings still and he’s integrating himself into the group. It's just unfortunate we can't see him on the pitch immediately."
Jackson added: "It’s a situation we are going to have to deal with. I have learned quickly in football that problems will arise all the time. You have to accept them and deal with them and find solutions to move forward and that's what we're doing now."
With the Dons light on bodies, particularly in defence, the free agent market is the only avenue of reinforcements left available. It is something that may be looked at in the coming days.
Jackson said: "It might be something we have to look at. We’ve got ideas of players who out there – we look at this stuff all the time and we constantly update our a database of players who are available."
He concluded: “We have fantastic staff who are really knowledgeable on players who are available, so we can step into that at any time if need be. Hopefully we won’t have to but if we do have to find a solution there, I'm sure we can work on that."
