MICHAEL Forsyth broke down injured just 17 minutes into his comeback match, piling on the problems for whoever takes over as Wanderers boss.

Chairman Ivor Beeks hopes to have his new man installed before the Chesterfield game next week and the new manager will walk straight into a crisis.

Blues already have six first team regulars suspended for that game and had been grooming Brucie to make his return at Saltergate after ten months out injured.

Caretaker boss Terry Evans handed the former Derby defender the captain's armband for Wednesday's reserve game against Bournemouth but it all went sour as Forsyth tore his calf muscle.

He left the ground on crutches and Evans has ruled him out of the picture for the next month.

It is a crushing blow to the club who are already without defenders Keith Ryan, Paul McCarthy and captain Jason Cousins for the trip to Derbyshire. They are all suspended alongside Michael Simpson and John Cornforth as the Blues pay the price for the worst disciplinary record in the division.

Forsyth, who has been out since dislocating his kneecap last season is distraught at missing out again. He had his heart set on returning at Chesterfield next week.

He said: "Gutted doesn't even describe how I'm feeling. I felt something go when I was just jogging. I wasn't stretching for a ball or anything, it's crazy because I've worked so hard.

"It's sore at the moment. I'm going to have a couple of days off to let it settle down and then I'll have to start again on Monday.

"I don't know how long this is going to set me back. The timing couldn't be any worse with a new manager about to come in."

Evans was full of sympathy for 32-year-old Forsyth.

He said: "Brucie is a great pro and it's very unfortunate. He's worked so hard to get back."

Evans used the Bournemouth game to play the defence he intends to employ at Chesterfield with Jason Kavanagh, Nicky Mohan, Gary Wraight and Chris Vinnicombe alongside Forsyth.

Wanderers are desperately short of bodies for that. Club statistician Dave Finch confirmed that with half a dozen players banned at the same time this is the worst suspension crisis in the club's history.

And it is ironic that Blues should be in such disciplinary trouble when they are hunting a new manager because, when John Gregory was appointed to the post less than three years ago, he immediately said he wanted to see more bookings because the team was too soft.

Blues currently top the bad boys table with six sendings off and 54 bookings already this season.

That figure became worse when Steve Brown picked up another booking on the stroke of half-time during the reserves 0-0 draw with Bournemouth.

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