Walsall's Richard Taundry ruled out

Richard Taundry was today ruled out for up to a month with Walsall boss Chris Hutchings primed to bring in reinforcements.

The midfielder is sidelined with a knee injury and is likely to miss at least four games after limping out of last week's Johnstone's Paint Trophy exit to Chesterfield.

He sat out Saturday's 1-0 home defeat to Colchester and boss Chris Hutchings confirmed the 21-year-old is set for an extended spell out.

"He could be three or four weeks which is a bit of a blow but the good thing is it's not something major like cruciate ligament damage," said the manager, who hopes to have Steve Jones back in training on Thursday.

"He's just hyper extended and stretched everything and it's going to take time to settle down. When that happens he can kick on again.

"Each day it is improving but obviously not to the extent where he can go jogging yet. On Thursday he was on crutches then it was a little easier and it's getting easier but he's still in a bit of pain.

"He can just get on with his rehab, it takes time to get over these things, we don't want to rush him and need to make sure he's right."

Taundry was joined on the sidelines on Saturday by Jones and the suspended Alex Nicholls while Will Grigg and Ryan McGivern were away with Northern Ireland Under-21s.

Hutchings drafted in 17-year-old Aaron Forde to the bench and admits if the injuries don't ease then he will move into the loan market when the window reopens.

He said: "If the injuries keep coming against us then we'll have to look at bringing someone in. We're always on the lookout and the window opens again on Wednesday so it's something we can look at."

And the below-par Saddlers were booed off after Andy Bond's late winner consigned them to a fourth home defeat out of five but Hutchings insisted he wasn't aware of the crowd's reaction.

He said: "You could make a big thing about playing at home but it's a green pitch out there and you have to go and perform. You don't normally hear what the crowd are saying because your focus is on your job."