Glenn Roeder hopes that Don Hutchison will be back in action much sooner than was first feared.
Many reports have given a benchmark of 10-12 months before Don returns, but Glenn says:
"We are going to try and be positive about Don and hopefully in six or seven months he will be okay.
"We spent £5m on Don, now he is going to be out for that length of time; it could be longer but we hope not, though it still comes as a great cost to everyone.
"Richard Garcia had the same sort of injury and was playing again in six months; now admittedly Richard was 10 years younger, but even if it was a month more and it went to seven or seven and a half months, that is better than 10.
"He is going to have his operation in Canada next week and we wish him a safe journey and a speedy recovery."
Added to Don's injury against Middlesbrough, of course, was that of Steve Lomas, and again Glenn hopes the player can defy initial predictions suggesting he would be out for a month.
"Hopefully we will have Steve back by the time we play Manchester United," he says.
"It is sickening for Steve as well who has had more than his fair share of injuries in the last year, and to pick up another one, especially so late in the game, is a blow both for him and us.
"The win over Middlesbrough came with a very big price to have to pay; to lose two of the most influential players we have got was a devastating blow."