Fresh injury blow for Leeds United midfielder after initial joy but Whites duo overlooked

Blackpool’s Leeds loanee Ian Poveda missed Tuesday night’s 2-0 defeat against Championship visitors West Brom due to issues with his calf and hamstring but the 23-year-old returned to the Tangerines bench for Saturday’s clash at Birmingham City.

With the score goalless, Poveda was brought on in the 62nd minute and the Whites loanee scored what proved the only goal of the game 12 minutes later when tapping home into an empty net from a Morgan Rogers square ball after Rogers beat Blues keeper Neil Etheridge to a short back pass.

Poveda, though, was then taken off with five minutes left and interim boss Stephen Dobbie has revealed that the midfielder was once again having issues with his hamstring.

“Ian came on and felt his hamstring again,” said Dobbie. “He missed the game on Tuesday so we’ll need to assess him and see how he is. He didn’t train until Friday, but knowing we had to go for it we needed him on the bench.

"It was amazing he tapped it in but obviously it’s backfired because of his hamstring. We will just need to address it, but in my experience if you’re coming on and coming off it isn’t going to be a good one.”

Elsewhere on the Leeds United loanees front, Whites duo Leo Hjelde and Jamie Shackleton were both overlooked for Rotherham United and Millwall respectively as part of Saturday’s EFL programme.

Hjelde was an unused substitute in a 2-1 defeat at Bristol City for the Millers whilst Shackleton also stayed on the bench for the Lions in their 2-1 reverse at Wigan Athletic. Millwall’s fellow Leeds loanee Charlie Cresswell is out injured and recovering from a fractured eye socket.

Joe Gelhardt, though, started for Sunderland in Sunday’s Championship clash at West Brom in which the Black Cats fought back from being 1-0 down to claim a 2-1 victory that sent them sixth.

Gelhardt started upfront and played 77 minutes before being taken off having been booked seven minutes earlier. Cody Drameh, meanwhile, will likely be in action for Luton Town on Monday evening when they host Middlesbrough.

In League Two, Alfie McCalmont was named on the Carlisle United bench for their clash at Barrow and brought on with five minutes left as part of a 1-0 win for his promotion-chasing loan side.

North of the border in the SPL, Stuart McKinstry was an unused substitute for Motherwell in their 1-1 draw at Celtic.