Walsall boss Lee Grant has confirmed that midfielder Alex Pattison and Antony Evans are facing lengthy spells on the sidelines, with the gaffer not expecting either to feature this calendar year.Speaking to the media shortly after his side suffered a heavy 6-1 defeat to Stevenage in the EFL Trophy, Grant confirmed that the duo are unlikely to feature in the team for the foreseeable future.
Pattison, who joined from Bradford City in the summer, recently returned to training following a spell on the side-lines, but has suffered another setback in his bid to return from a hamstring injury.
Antony Evans, meanwhile, came off during last weekend's win over Port Vale, with Grant confirming the Huddersfield Town loanee has also suffered a hamstring injury.
Speaking to Express & Star reporter George Bennett, Grant said: "We’ve had a bad week when it comes to injuries.
"We’ve lost Patto, and we’ll lose him until the New Year, and we’ve lost Evo, who won’t be far behind him.
"Really tough. We’ve got a small squad, and we can’t afford to lose big players. That’s two of our most important players that we’ll be without for the next few months.
"Patto has had an awful run of luck, and our thoughts of with him at the moment.
"Selfishly, you can feel sorry for yourselves, but actually the most important person on the inside of that is Patto. He has got a long road ahead.
"We’ll have him back at some time in January and Evo towards the back end of the year, hopefully a bit before Patto, but another long road for him as well.
"Both of them were hamstrings, so really tough to take."
