Accrington Stanley manager John Coleman has revealed that Colby Bishop is likely to be out of action for the club's next few matches having suffered an ankle injury during Tuesday's 1-1 draw at Wycombe Wanderers.

The forward has been a key figure for Stanley in the opening weeks of the season starting all eight of the club's League 1 fixtures so far, and Bishop has made a fine start to his Accrington career registering four goals already having made the move from non-league Leamington in the summer.

The 22-year-old has formed an ecouraging and effective partnership up front with Dion Charles, who scored Stanley's goal in the 1-1 draw at Wycombe, in the opening weeks of the season and in the absence of the injured Courtney Baker-Richardson and Offrande Zanzala.

Having been named in Accrington's starting eleven for the trip to Wycombe Bishop was again a lively presence up front alongside Charles, as Stanley produced an encouraging first half performance which saw them take a 1-0 lead into the break thanks to Charles' well taken header from Jordan Clark's cross.

Wycombe though grew into the contest and started to pose much more of a threat in the second period and were eventually rewarded with an equaliser from the penalty spot, with midfielder Nick Freeman converting from 12-yards to draw the hosts level on 72 minutes.

Moments after conceding the equaliser Accrington were dealt another blow with Bishop picking up an ankle injury and having to replaced by Connor Simpson with 16 minutes remaining, but Stanley managed to hold onto to secure a potentially vital point on their travels.

Speaking to the Lancashire Telegraph after the game about the injury suffered by Bishop, Coleman said: "The big blow is that Colby looks like he’s going to be out with an ankle injury. That is a body blow for us but we’ll move on with the players we’ve got."

The Verdict

Bishop's injury will be a real blow to Accrington ahead of Saturday's clash against high-flying local rivals Blackpool, especially considering that Zanzala and Baker-Richardson are also currently unavailable through injuries themselves.

Having made a very bright start to life in League 1 with Accrington following his summer move from Leamington, the 22-year-old woud have been eager to carry on playing and creating an even stonger understanding with Charles up front.

However, if Bishop is now going to be facing a spell on the sidelines Coleman will need to potentially tweak his formation for the coming matches, with the option to bring Simpson into midfield and play with just Charles up front, whatever he does to compensate for the absence of Bishop he will be hoping Accrington can build on the point they picked up on Tuesday.