Pierce Charles is expected to be sidelined for up to two months following the shoulder injury suffered against Brentford in the FA Cup last Saturday.
Charles missed a chunk of games earlier in the season when he damaged his other shoulder and now Henrik Pedersen finds himself searching for a replacement loan keeper to add to his lengthy injury list.
He said today: “Of course it’s a big blow, most for him but for all of us.
“It’s so sad, he has been so strong defensively and offensively. He has just been very, very strong and means a lot for our team.
“He’s out now for six to eight weeks, it’s his shoulder again but the opposite one to last time.
“It’s unlucky that it’s happened twice in such a short period and let’s hope it’s the last one for him and for all of us.”
Nineteen-year-old Logan Stretch came on for Charles for the last half-hour on Saturday and performed creditably on what was his senior debut.
However, Pedersen is now searching for a solution for Saturday’s home game with Portsmouth and explained: “The situation is that we can sign two loan players where the parent club has to take a big, big part of the salary, but the EFL has told us that we can’t have an extra loan for Pierce. We have to use one of the two loans if we want a goalkeeper for the rest of the season.”
He continues to speak with other clubs about possibilities and there is also the option in the first instance of taking an emergency loan keeper for seven days, as we did earlier in the season following Charles’ first shoulder injury lay-off.
