Derby County assistant manager Liam Rosenior has revealed that neither Sam Baldock or Craig Forsyth will be available once again when the Rams take on Coventry City.

The Rams were without Baldock for their 2-2 draw at home against Luton Town in mid-week after the experienced forward suffered a broken nose during their goalless draw at Preston North End.

The return to action of Colin Kazim-Richards has fortunately for the Rams coincided with Baldock’s injury issues.

While Tom Lawrence also showed with his goal and performance against Luton that he could now be considered as an option upfront for Rooney.

Forsyth, meanwhile, has not featured for Derby since the goalless draw against Swansea City before the international break. That comes with the experienced defender suffering with a bout of illness.

Speaking to Derbyshire Live ahead of the Rams’ trip to Coventry on Saturday, Rosenior revealed that Baldock will not be able to feature once again as they do not want to take a risk with him.

He said: "He has had scan, and it has shown something really, really small. You have to manage this group of players in mind of the long term because of the numbers. We cannot afford to risk players and end up losing them for longer.

“He has been a big miss because what he gives is experience, leadership, he understands the game, he makes really unselfish runs and I think he has been really unfortunate not to add goals. He sums up the group we have - unselfish, work hard for each other - and hopefully we can get him back sooner rather than later."

On whether Forysth’s current condition means he won’t feature against Coventry he added: "No. Obviously he hasn't been training. We have to make sure every player is fit and available for the long term. He has been away from the training ground, I know he is going crazy being stuck at home and we miss him here because he has had an outstanding start to the season."

The verdict

It is a real shame that just when Derby have managed to get Kazim-Richards back to fitness they have lost Baldock to a broken nose.

However, they are right to take their time over Baldock’s recovery because they are carrying such small numbers that they can not afford to risk worsening the injuries to the players that are carrying knocks right now.

Forsyth’s situation is also unfortunate for the Rams, but again they are right to be cautious over his potential return to involvement. Hopefully, he can recover as soon as possible and provide another option for Derby to consider in defence.

Under all of the circumstances, Derby are doing very well to manage their players as best they can and that is all Rooney can do at the moment.