Simon Grayson is hoping for good news from the loan market ahead of tomorrow's visit of promotion rivals Scunthorpe to Elland Road – with a gaping hole in his back-four giving the Leeds manager cause for concern.
Leeds face two crunch games in the space of three days against clubs above them in the table, with a televised trip to Oldham on Monday following the encounter with Scunthorpe.
The return from suspension of leading scorer Jermaine
Beckford tomorr
ow is tempered by the absence of a recognised right-back in Grayson's squad for the match.
Frazer Richardson has missed the last seven games with a thigh injury and is now struggling with a calf strain, and stand-in Andrew Hughes broke down against Cheltenham last week after his quicker-than-expected return from a pulled hamstring.
Grayson said: "The calls have been made, we're just waiting for one or two answers.
"We feel it is something we need to have a look at. Jonathan Douglas has done well in the games he has played there.
"But of the two injured lads, Frazer's had a slight setback, he's tweaked his calf a little bit so he's going to be out. I'm not going to put a timescale on it, but he certainly won't be available for the weekend. Andy Hughes has tweaked his hamstring, so it might be 10 days again
"We're coming in to a period where there are a lot of games, so if we can get a couple of extra bodies in, not just in defence but in different areas of the pitch,
it freshens things up, keeps everybody on their toes and gives us a bit of competition for places."
