CITY boss Bryan Gunn will be without on-loan defender Ryan Bertrand and has doubts over Sammy Clingan ahead of Saturday's trip to Deepdale to face Preston.
Bertrand suffered medial ligament damage to his ankle in the 3-3 draw with Wolves and was replaced at half-time by Australian David Carney in that match. The left-back sat out the home defeat to Bristol City and is expected to be out for another seven to ten days.
On Bertrand, Gunn said: "Ryan will be missing, he's probably another week to ten days away. It was an ankle injury, to his medial ligament."
Midfielder Sammy Clingan is rated as 50-50 for the match as he recovers from a thigh strain suffered also against Wolves at Molineux. Clingan withdrew from Northern Ireland's squad ahead of the World Cup qualifier with San Marino, which they won 3-0.
Asked for an update on Clingan, Gunn added: "Sammy is fifty-fifty at the moment, because he's come back from the Northern Ireland squad after receiving treatment and he's still feeling his injury. He got his bang against Wolves and then played against Bristol, so it just shows you that he's committed and he wants to play but we've also got to be wary.
"If we do play him and he makes it worse, we'll be without one of our top players for a number of games. That's a decision we'll make when we have to make it."
In central defence Gary Doherty is back in the mix after having his red card against Bristol City overturned and Jason Shackell signed on loan from Wolves in the week is also in contention.
David Carney will be joining up with the squad after flying back from Yokohama, where he featured as a substitute in Australia's goalless draw with Japan. On the Australian international, the City boss commented: "He's back in the country and he'll meet us at the hotel in Preston. He's just come back from Japan, he'll be resting today as well as doing a bit of fitness work and then we'll see him in the hotel tonight.
Striker Cody McDonald, who signed from Dartford on transfer deadline day, is also unavailable after suffering a dead leg in his last appearance for the Darts against Maidstone: "Cody took a knock in the game I saw against Maidstone," Gunn told First News. "It looked like he was a marked man to be honest with you, he took about three clatters.
"The goalkeeper nearly knocked him out with a double-fisted blow to the head, but he got up and then the left-back took him out with another tackle and then I think the same player did it again. So he has like a dead-leg above his knee, and it's sore."
He continued: "We want to make sure he's right before we put him into full-time training because it would be unfair. He's desperate to go, he's back jogging now and he'll probably be back training with us next week. I think Tuesday night's reserve game is going to come a bit too quick for him."
