Former Portsmouth man huge down for crunch showdown amid Blackburn Rovers injury fears
Hayden Carter registered 22 appearances for Pompey during a loan spell in 2022.
One-time Pompey loanee Hayden Carter is a huge doubt to face his former side in this weekend’s crucial survival showdown.
And head coach Michael O’Neill has provided a concerning fitness update over his tiring Blackburn Rovers squad amid ongoing injury issues.
The Blues make the long trip north to Ewood Park to face a Rovers outfit, who sit just one point and one place below in the Championship standings.
However, the Lancashire outfit could be without Carter for the visit of John Mousinho’s men after he suffered a slight hamstring problem against Derby County over the weekend.
Former Pompey loanee huge doubt for visit of Blues
It’s been a frustrating campaign for the central defender, who has been limited to just seven league appearances to date.
A knee issue forced the 25-year-old to sit out the opening two months of the campaign, before hamstring and calf problems kept the defender sidelined between September and January.
Blackburn are once again fearing a potential set-back for the centre-back, who was forced off in the closing stages at Pride Park, despite netting in their 3-1 defeat to the Rams.
After the loss O’Neill, provided a brief update over Carter’s injury scare - and remains uncertain over his availability for this Saturday’s crunch contest with Pompey.
‘His hamstring was tight,’ the Northern Irishman told the Lancashire Telegraph.
‘So until obviously, I'm sure we'll have a scan between now and Monday and we'll see where we're at then.’
Carter was one of five arrivals made by Danny Cowley in January 2022 as he looked to bolster his ranks for a potential play-off push.
The former Burton Albion man impressed on the south coast, which saw him amass 22 outings having been utilised at the heart of defence and at right-back.
Although the former Blues boss signalled his intent at keeping the defender beyond his loan stint at Fratton, he remained in Lancashire, which has seen him total 110 appearances.
Blackburn Rovers injury issues
With Carter’s availability yet to be decided ahead of this Saturday’s survival showdown, the centre-back adds to a growing list of absentees at Ewood Park.
Nine members of O’Neill’s squad were already sidelined for the defeat against Derby, with that figure unlikely to come down before Pompey’s visit this weekend.
And the Rovers boss has spoken over his side’s current fitness issues as his stretched squad manage their tough Championship schedule.
He added: ‘I'm disappointed because we played so well in the first half but the second half probably tells why we're in the situation that we are.
‘To be honest, you only get to know the squad. But even since coming in, we've lost the likes of Lewis Miller and obviously, without Sonny Tronstad here today.
‘So they're important players for this team, for this squad. And unfortunately, we're going to need some players back and we're going to need to find some resilience in the current group of players as well.
‘I thought Adam Forshaw was excellent in the period he was on the pitch. But it's his first game in a long time, so we had to manage him.
‘There are others; we're asking a lot of Morishita. He's playing a lot, 90 minutes, 90 minutes, 90 minutes. We need more players who can go the distance.
‘You have to dig in and we did that at QPR. We just couldn't today and maybe we're asking a lot of relatively inexperienced players in this situation. Maybe we're asking too much for some boys.
‘We need players back and we will have to take chances in terms of players' fitness. We need to get back to winning ways, taking points. It's difficult to see games out with who is absent.’
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