TOWN seem certain to have lost Chris Brandon for the rest of the season.
The 32-year-old (pictured) suffered a hamstring injury in the thrilling derby victory against Leeds United and is out for three to four weeks.
Caretaker manager Gerry Murphy, who is already without suspended midfielder Jon Worthington at home to Tranmere on Saturday, will now make a second change to the starting line-up in attack.
And Malvin Kamara did his chances no harm whatsoever with two goals in last night’s 3-1 Reserve victory at Bradford, when Luke Beckett got the other goal.
The watching Murphy took off Kamara, Joe Skarz and Tom Clarke in a triple substitution on the hour and immediately included them in Saturday’s squad, when he’s forced to make his first changes in four games at the helm.
"It would have been nice to have named the same team because they have performed magnificently, but Worthington is out and Brandon’s injury is a torn hamstring, which may mean he’s played his last game for us this time," said Murphy.
"We need Andy Booth for his presence in both boxes, but we also need some pace up front to trouble the opposition and Chris has done that job excellently.
"I already have a fair idea of what I’m going to do with the team on Saturday and it won’t involve too much swapping around."
Town midfielder Matt Young, who is out of contract at the end of this season, played yesterday for Rotherham Reserves in their 1-0 win against York.
It was a trial match for the 22-year-old, who has made 42 senior appearances for Town, and he wore a special body vest to protect his damaged ribs.
Meanwhile, striker Phil Jevons is making solid progress after a calf injury and could return to training next week.
Town are delighted with over 1,000 centenary season-ticket sales on day one and they expect to break the 2,000 barrier today.
Over 350 who purchased yesterday were not existing season-ticket holders and fans from as far afield as Edinburgh, London and France joined in.
