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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
John McDougall

Kieran Lee injury update after Oxford United win ahead of Bolton Wanderers taking on Burton Albion

Kieran Lee is poised to be out of Bolton Wanderers' trip to Burton Albion after coming off with a heel injury in the win over Oxford United.

Wanderers went behind early on at the Kassam Stadium due to Billy Bodin's great free-kick, but Declan John equalised immediately afterwards as Bolton drew level.

Bodin struck again for the second time later on in the first, but Marlon Fossey drew Wanderers level again for the second time in the encounter after half-time.

READ MORE: Bolton Wanderers player ratings vs Oxford United - Santos, Bakayoko and Fossey good

The game looked like it was heading towards the spoils being shared, but Amadou Bakayoko struck before full-time to give Wanderers all three points for a huge 3-2 win against the U's as Bolton went seven games unbeaten and are currently eight points from the play-offs.

Lee started the encounter at the Kassam Stadium but was replaced on 20 minutes by Kyle Dempsey.

Speaking after the win, Wanderers boss Evatt believes Lee will miss the clash against the Brewers on Tuesday evening but that more will be learnt in the coming day or two on the severity.

He said: “I think it’ll be enough to keep him out of Tuesday but we don’t know the severity yet. We’ll debrief tomorrow and Matt (Barrass) will chance to have a good look at him and no doubt send him to our favourite scanner and we’ll see what we get from that.

"But for now, he just needs to rest, recover and see how it settles.

"He’s got a heel issue that we’ve been managing for a while now. He’s got a growth and a spur that needs shaving and obviously with him managing that pain load, it’s kind of changed his running gate and gate pattern and in turn, probably caused some Achilles damage or tendinopathy.

"So we’ll have to look at it and manage it, but for now, we’ll enjoy today, we’ll debrief on the way home and look at it on Sunday.”

Fossey teed up Bakayoko for what proved to be the winner before full-time.

Fossey is on loan from Fulham until the end of the season and Evatt reiterated that Wanderers would like to keep him beyond the summer.

Evatt believes a now fit Bakayoko can have a big part to play in the second half of the season in a team that he feels can grow together in the coming months.

He said: “He (Fossey) came in, had a bit of a tight groin at half-time. He’s a really good and talented player. We are lucky to have him, we’re enjoying working with him and vice versa.

"As I’ve said before, there was always one eye on the future with bringing him in. We have to whisper that quietly because he’s a very talented boy.

“Bakayoko is (a big player) but we knew that and we haven’t had a clear run with him. We’ve had so many injuries in the first half of the season that we’ve been limited to have Baka in one piece and he’s shown that he’s a proper number nine and with the run of games, he can really make an impact on this team, but we’ve got so many players that can do that now.

"After the early substitution with Kieran having a bit of an Achilles problem, we were always one sub light because I’m looking at my bench and I want to get Sads (Kieran Sadlier) on as well. It’s just exciting and I think we’ve built a really good group and a really strong group.

"There’s lots of work to come and this team is still a work in progress, it’s still only a few weeks old. There’s lots of positives, lots of things to work on, but for now we’ll enjoy today and get focused pretty quickly on Burton on Tuesday.”

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