Nottingham Forest manager Steve Cooper has revealed that Max Lowe looks set to miss out on the next two games for the Reds and explained the reason behind Alex Mighten’s absence against Reading.
Forest went into the game looking to secure another important three points in the Championship, but despite taking the lead through Phillip Zinckernagel in the opening few minutes the Reds had to settle for just a point in the end after missing a couple of presentable openings to add a second goal.
Heading into the game, Mighten was a notable absentee from the squad and the Reds missed the directness in possession that the attacker brings to the table for them when at his best. However, it was not the worst result for Forest considering they were without one of their key attacking threats.
Another major issue for Forest manifested itself in the first half with Lowe forced off the field in the 31st minute after he suffered what appeared to be an issue with his groin. Gaetan Bong came on for him and the Reds lacked as much balance down their left-hand side in the Sheffield United loanees’ absence from the side.
Forest face another vital fixture in midweek in the Championship against Luton Town before then they take on West Brom away from home on Friday night. Therefore, they will hope for good news over both Mighten and Lowe during the week ahead of those fixtures.
Speaking to Nottinghamshire Live, Cooper suggested that Lowe could now be out for at least the next two games with a groin issue after he was forced off against Reading. While he also added that Mighten missed out through a knock and was not risked.
He said: “I think he’s hurt his groin. We don’t know how bad it is. He’s certainly going to be out for Tuesday, and probably Friday
“I can’t say for sure, because we’ve only just walked off the pitch, but that’s how it seemed.
“He’s a bit down, to be honest, which is understandable.
“It would be a blow if he is out for a long time. To lose any of the boys would be a blow.
“Alex (Mighten) didn’t start today because he had a bit of a niggle. We just about got him ready yesterday, with a fitness test. Even thinking that he was going to be out, you were thinking, we don’t want to be losing any players.
“That’s just the nature of the schedule, the league we play in, and the sport as well.”
The verdict
Heading into what is the busiest period of the campaign to date in terms of fixtures coming around thick and fast over the coming weeks, Forest will be needing as many of their most important players fit and available as possible. That is why it was such a major blow to see Lowe go down and have to be forced off the field through injury.
Lowe has provided Forest with real balance down their left since his introduction into the side and that is something that they are going to miss on Tuesday against Luton. There are options for Cooper to replace with and Jack Colback at left-back could well be one of those, but that would take the midfielder’s influential presence out of the middle of the park where he has been so impressive of late.
Mighten looks like he might even be able to be fit enough now to return to involvement in the next two games, with him only missing out through a knock ahead of the Reading game. That would be a major boost for Cooper because the attacker is a very useful weapon to call upon from either the start or the bench.