Chesterfield striker Tom Denton set to be out for 'long' time after second knee operation and latest on Akwasi Asante

The forward had an operation on his knee in January and missed the remainder of last season, and unfortunately he injured his other knee during pre-season after making his return.

The 32-year-old went under the knife on Monday.

"It is similar to his other knee so that is a long lay-off for him again,” manager James Rowe said on Friday.

"I said last time when it happened in January that he has got some good people around him to support him and he came back fitter and stronger but obviously you can’t compensate for the same happening in his other knee.

"It is a tough one to take for him.”

However, there is some positive news on Akwasi Asante, who has been out since April after rupturing his ACL.

"He is on track,” Rowe said.

"He has just had a week at St George’s Park which went really well, they said he is slightly ahead of where he should be, which is really good but we can’t get ahead of ourselves too much and expect too much from him too early.

"He is on track to be back at the back end of this year and the start of next year.”

Another long-term absentee, Haydn Hollis, who ruptured his Achilles in April, might need to go out on loan when he returns, said Rowe.

"His injury comeback is running smoothly,” the boss explained.

"We are looking forward to inviting him back into training, probably for full contact, at the start of October.

"He will need a few weeks and then we can assess what he needs, whether some practice games will be sufficient or a loan but we can only judge that when he comes back into contact and see where he is at.

"It has been a long lay-off so I don’t want to speculate too much where he will be when he comes back into training but the odds are he might need some game time before he comes back into our level of football.”