Inigo Calderon has admitted it is “too early” for Bristol Rovers to know the extent of Ruel Sotiriou’s injury after the attacking midfielder was forced off in the Gas’ defeat to Northampton Town on Saturday afternoon.
Rovers slipped to a second consecutive defeat as they were beaten 2-1 by Kevin Nolan’s side at Sixfields Stadium, despite taking the lead through Scott Sinclair early in the second half.
The Gas’ captain gave Calderon’s side the lead just moments after the restart when he found the bottom right corner with a left-footed effort. However, The Cobblers levelled through Dara Costelloe just after the hour mark before substitute Nesta Gunniess-Walker secured all three points as he finished past Jed Ward late on.
Saturday’s defeat sees Rovers slip to 19th in the table, just three points clear of Burton Albion who occupy the final spot in the relegation zone. On top of the defeat, the Gas were handed an extra blow early in the second half when Sotiriou was forced off with what Calderon later confirmed to be a hamstring issue.
“It’s too early to find out but it was pulling his hamstring,” explained the Rovers boss in his post-match press conference. “Hopefully, it’s not too much.
“At half time he wasn’t feeling great and at the start of the second half but I don’t think it’s too much. At the same time, it’s too early to find out.”
Ahead of last weekend’s trip to Sixfields, Calderon was hoping that Grant Ward would be ready to feature against The Cobblers, despite not yet being full fit, having missed Rovers’ defeat to Wycombe Wanderers at Adams Park.
However, the 30-year-old was not named in the Gas’ starting line-up or among the substitutes for Saturday afternoon’s game with the only changes to the matchday squad seeing Matt Butcher and Jack Hunt replace the suspended Shaq Forde and Jevani Brown, who is yet to make an appearance for Rovers this season.
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Although the defeat to Nolan’s side did come too early for Ward to return, primarily because of the quick turnaround between games, the hope from within the Gas’ camp is that the experienced midfielder shouldn’t be sidelined for too much longer.
“It was the ankle against Burton and we knew that it was too close to play against Wycombe,” Calderon said after the full-time whistle. “We thought that he could play today but it was again too early.
“When you play so many games it’s like it has been too long but it has been just one week since that happened so that’s nearly a normal situation with an ankle. Hopefully, for the next one, he’s ready because we need everybody.”
Rovers are next in action on Saturday afternoon when they welcome Steve Evans and Rotherham United to The Memorial Ground. The Millers currently sit 14th in League One and have failed to win any of their last six matches in all competitions having been relegated from the Championship last term.
Calderon’s side have impressed at The Mem in recent weeks and will be hoping they can secure another home win to ease some of the relegation fears in and around their fanbase.