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Adam Baker writes

Posted Tuesday, December 26th 2017 @AdamBakerBCFC

Nervous wait on injured pair

Tuesday, December 26th 2017

City have concerns over Jamie Paterson and Nathan Baker after their 2-0 win over Reading.

The pair both left the field through injury in the second half – and Paterson had only been on as a substitute due to his ongoing hamstring problem.

Head coach Lee Johnson revealed to BCTV: “Pato has had the issue for a little while now and we think it’s more nerve-based, stemming from his back.

“He produced a fantastic cameo today for us but obviously it’s still causing him problems. It meant he couldn’t be on the bench on Saturday at QPR and we’ll probably need to give him an epidural injection – and not because he’s having a baby!”

Jamie Paterson scored in a 40-minute cameo against Reading

DEFENSIVE CONCERN

On Baker, the City boss added: “He’d complaining about his hamstring at half-time and we wanted to try it for the second half but he couldn’t carry on in the end.

“It would be a big blow to lose him so hopefully the scan results will be okay.”

City’s injury list in ever-growing and it’s likely to be mid-January before Milan Djuric and Famara Diédhiou return to bolster numbers.

Callum O’Dowda, Jens Hegeler, Eros Pisano and Gary O’Neil all remain sidelined.

“If we had a fully-fit squad then we probably wouldn’t need much at all in January, but it looks like we’re going to need a bit of help,” added the head coach.

“It’s a difficult window to sign players in and it’s important we sign the right people for the group, not sign players for the sake of it.

“With Milan and Famara coming back we should be ok up front, but it’s probably in midfield and in the wide positions where we’ll need to do something.”

It won’t be easy for City during the transfer window as they play on New Year’s Day, followed by two cup fixtures – away at Watford (FA Cup) and Manchester City (Carabao Cup) – where potential new faces are likely to be cup-tied.