Lincoln City boss Michael Appleton cast a negative figure over Jorge Grant's injury recovery with him expecting the player to be out for a long time yet.

Grant picked up an ankle injury on Saturday afternoon in the Imps' League One clash with Plymouth Argyle and has been in a protective boot since.

Indeed, it sounds as though there is considerable swelling around the injury and until that goes down they will not be able to have a scan and really assess the problem.

Appleton hopes, though, that that can be later this week but speaking to Lincolnshire Live it is clear he expects Grant to be out for a while:

“He’s still very sore. The ankle is still very swollen. He’ll be in a protective boot for a few days until the swelling subsides.

“Then it’ll be a more sensible decision to get it scanned, when that swelling dies down a little bit. It doesn’t look great, to be honest with you.”

“I’d be amazed if it’s weeks [rather than months] but I’d be absolutely delighted at the same time."

The Verdict

The Imps' form has wobbled a little bit in recent weeks and they were on the wrong end of a 4-3 scoreline against Plymouth Argyle at the weekend.

Peterborough United are showing the rest of the division the way at the moment and are in good form but the Imps are at least still up at the sharp end and there's plenty of time to get back into top spot.

It sounds as though they're going to have to do that without the help of Grant for the foreseeable future, however.