Robbie Brady was the Republic of Ireland’s match-winner (Niall Carson/PA)
Injury worries are mounting for Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrimsson ahead of next month’s double header in the Nations League as Robbie Brady is now a major doubt.
With Gavin Bazunu out long term and unlikely to be fit until early next year, Hallgrimsson was also facing the prospect of being without Will Smallbone for the games against Finland and England, as he suffered a recurrence of his hamstring injury on his return to the first team after a five-week absence.
And Chiedozie Ogbene is also set for a spell on the sidelines after picking up a foot injury while in action for Ipswich Town in their 4-3 defeat to Brentford.
But Brady was also unable to see out the game for his club on Saturday as he was substituted in the first half of Preston’s 3-3 draw away to Plymouth and the initial diagnosis was not good.
“He has done his ankle,” Preston boss Paul Heckingbottom said of Brady. “He jumped for that header and when he landed, he turned his ankle. It has swollen up. We know there is damage there. How much, we won’t be certain until we get him assessed.”
That’s a major blow as Brady was one of Ireland’s form players in the last international window, claiming a goal and an assist in the win away to Finland and Hallgrimsson will now need to look at options like Callum O’Dowda or possibly Ryan Manning to fill that left back role.
There was some good news from the weekend as an injury to Bournemouth’s first choice keeper Kepa offered an opportunity for Mark Travers to start only his second game of the season, against Aston Villa, his first appearance coming in the Cherries’ game against Chelsea where Kepa was not able to play under the terms of his loan deal.
“Kepa had in his left abductor some issues. He couldn’t hit the ball properly and it didn’t make any sense to take any risk having also the two keepers we have,” manager Andoni Iraola said as he praised Travers.
“I think we’ve had especially at the beginning of the game, 15, 20 minutes where they were playing much better than us. I think we with the defenders, Mark [Travers] kept us in the game through that difficult period.”