CHERRIES have been dealt a big injury blow with the news Jack Stacey could be out for "up to eight weeks" due to a knee ligament injury.

The in-form defender suffered the problem during the first half of last weekend's 4-2 victory over Reading.

While he played on and completed the 90 minutes against the Royals, Stacey subsequently missed the following matches against Nottingham Forest and yesterday's trip to Rotherham.

And boss Jason Tindall confirmed the 24-year-old will be out for a while longer yet, but also admitted some relief at the diagnosis.

Asked for an update on Stacey's injury, Tindall told the Daily Echo: "Good news for us. So, he’s going to be out for a few weeks at least. Anything maybe up to eight weeks.

"But I think that was what we were hoping for in the sense that was the best case scenario.

"So he’ll be out for a period of time, but it could’ve been a lot worse. It could’ve been possibly six or seven months, so we’ve had some good news on that.

"He knows where he’s going now and he’ll work hard in the treatment room with the guys and be back with us soon."

Tindall continued: "It’s just a ligament injury in his knee. You always fear the worst when a player does their knee, but off the back of the specialist’s opinion and our medical team, the outcome is probably the best we could’ve hoped for."