Bolton Wanderers captain Darren Pratley has been ruled out until after the international break due to the injury he picked up during the weekend's 0-0 opening day draw with Derby County.
The challenge with Derby's Craig Bryson happened after just 21 minutes of the first half, leaving Pratley with the ankle injury. Pratley was absent from his team's 1-0 League Cup defeat to Burton Albion on Tuesday night.
Lennon speaks
Bolton Wanderers manager Neil Lennon said in his pre-match press conference: "Darren has an ankle ligament injury, he got it strapped up at half time and he felt okay to play on. That’s the kind of commitment we want to be seeing from our players."
He added that there had been some "swelling" overnight in the aftermath of the game, which would need time to "calm down and heal", with fans "unlikely" to see him in action before the upcoming break.
However, Lennon was eager to stress that Pratley had "felt it" but had the injury strapped up and played on "through the pain barrier". Though the former Celtic manager praised his commitment, he stated that there was "a bit of ligament damage" which would see him out of action "for a week or two".
An injury hit-opening to the campaign
Wanderers have suffered a number of injuries already this season with players such as Derik Osede, David Wheater, Oscar Threlkeld and Max Clayton on the injury list. Bolton had an awful lot of injuries last season and unfortunately this season has not started the way boss Lennon has hoped.
Neil Lennon takes his Bolton side up to the North-East as they travel to Middlesbrough on Saturday hoping to keep up their unbeaten start to the new season. Pratley will also miss the trip to newly promoted MK Dons on Tuesday night before a home match against Nottingham Forest and an away trip to Blackburn Rovers before the end of the month.