Chesterfield dealt double injury blow as two midfielders are ruled out for several weeks

Weston has got a slight tear on a ligament in his ankle and Khan has tweaked a knee ligament.

Both of them had to come off in the win against Southend United last Saturday.

The pair join Haydn Hollis, George Carline, Jack Clarke, Tom Denton and Akwasi Asante in the treatment room as the injuries mount up for Town.

Manager James Rowe said: “We have just got Curtis’ scan back and it is not good news. He will be out for a lengthy period of time, six-seven weeks, so that is disappointing.

"And it is the same for Saidou as well, exactly the same timeframe, so two more injuries.

"We can’t account for them, though, they are not muscle injuries, they are from challenges.

"It is a poor challenge on Curtis, I have watched it back, it is probably a disgraceful tackle really from the lad from Southend. It was completely unnecessary, from the side and high and it was not even given as a foul so it is baffling really.”

Rowe said they have got to remain ‘positive’ but ruled out making any new additions.

He explained: “We have got a squad of players. Yes, that is running thin now, we can’t keep picking up these injuries. It does seem like the gods are not on our side at the moment.

"We are not in a position to add at the moment. I need to give the players a chance who have been on the periphery of it a little bit.

“We can’t lose anybody else for the long-term.”

However, there is some better news on Fraser Kerr who hobbled off against Southend.

Rowe said: "He is okay. He had some time off training, he needed a little rest. He is okay and he is in for selection tomorrow but I need to see how he is today.”

On the injury situation, the manager added that only one of them could possibly have been prevented.

"Other than Jack Clarke, where I take a little bit of responsibility for that one because where he is in his development, we were working on his power and that is the only muscle injury that we have had,” he told the DT.

"We have been stacking him up a little bit in the gym, doing some power work, some intense sprint work etc in pre-season and also at the start of the season. We lost him obviously to that muscle injury which I was disappointed about and which is unusual for our medical department, we are normally bang on.

"It happens, that can slip through the net sometimes when you are mixing development and first-team experience but other than that I think we have been very unfortunate with the injuries that we have picked up.

"We are still in a good place in the league, we have performed really well, out of the 11 games we have had six very, very good performances, probably three good ones and then two poor ones but in the main we have performed very well this season.”