Bristol Rovers rocked by hamstring injury to influential defender Josh Grant

Bristol Rovers have been rocked by an injury to defender Josh Grant, which will keep him sidelined for the next month.

Grant has pulled his hamstring and as a result will miss the next four to six weeks, which sees him miss a busy festive period.

He was substituted for Sion Spence in the 78th minute in the 2-0 defeat to Forest Green Rovers.

It is a huge blow to the Gas’ plans given how pivotal Grant has been both in defence and attack in his role as right wing-back.

In his pre-match press conference, Andy Mangan who was deputising for Joey Barton, said to BBC Radio Bristol: “Josh has been exposed to an awful lot of minutes.

“I think he has played 500 minutes in the past 600 and he’s come back from a plantar fascia, so his load has spiked massively.

“Unfortunately, he’s done his hamstring, so he will be out for 4-6 weeks, I think.

“It’s par for the course, that’s the job. They’ve got to play football. We’ve had an awful lot of injuries so Josh has had to play more minutes than he needed to, but he’s been absolutely great for us.

“Unfortunately, he has pulled his hamstring towards the end of the game against Forest Green.”

The 23-year-old suffered a plantar fascia injury, which is inflammation of a part of your foot that connects your heel bone to the toes.

It kept him out for a number of weeks before he made a welcome return to the side but after 16 appearances across all competitions, he is now out of action.

Rovers have had their fair share of injuries this season, including to their defenders Junior Brown, Trevor Clarke and most recently Alfie Kilgour who went under surgery.

There has been some movement in that Brett Pitman has returned, but Mark Hughes and Harvey Saunders are still out.

Barton’s side have six games coming up this month, beginning with Sutton United in the FA Cup tomorrow, before a midweek match up against Port Vale at the Mem on Tuesday.

Another home match against Rochdale follows on the Saturday, before a trip to struggling Scunthorpe before a busy festive period. They are at home against Sutton on Boxing Day, before a midweek trip to face Crawley Town three days later. Just two days after the visit to Crawley, they remain on the road against Leyton Orient on New Year’s Day.