Huddersfield Town have Scott High and Jon Russell as options with Jonathan Hogg out for six weeks

Scott High and Jon Russell are on standby with Jonathan Hogg ruled out for six weeks by a knee injury.
OPTION: Scott High could stand in for the injured Jonathan Hogg for Huddersfield TownOPTION: Scott High could stand in for the injured Jonathan Hogg for Huddersfield Town
OPTION: Scott High could stand in for the injured Jonathan Hogg for Huddersfield Town

And the next 10 days will be important in Pipa's return from the groin injury which has been dogging him since the spring.

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With fellow holding midfielder Alex Vallejo also out, and coach Carlos Corberan not wanting to move the influential Lewis O'Brien slightly deeper, one of the two youngsters is likely to deputise at home to West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.

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"Hoggy will be out of the team for around six weeks because he has a problem in the knee," explained Corberan.

"In the third minute of the (Cardiff City) game he twisted his knee and it was an accident. He is going to miss the next weeks."

On Vallejo, he added: "Since his last game against Blackburn he has been a candidate to come back with the group. He had pain.

"In the last scan we did with him and it doesn't allow him to come back to training so it doesn't allow him to come back (yet)."

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High has returned from Scotland Under-21 duty with no ill-effects and although 21-year-old Russell is yet to make his senior debut for the Terriers (he has played on loan for Accrington Stanley), he has been working closely with the first team lately with a view to stepping up.

Right-back Pipa was struggling at the end of last season and the surgery Huddersfield were trying to avoid became unavoidable. They hope to find out in the next week-and-a-half if the Spanish Under-21 international is ready to step up his training.

"Pipa is doing some long-term work but if we don't expose him to high-intensity work in the next 10 days to high-intensity work, we won't know if he's improving or not," said Corberan.

"The doctors need to wait a little bit more time to see the indications of whether he's ready and doesn't feel pain."

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In a lengthy injury bulletin, Corberan revealed Duane Holmes is targeting the visit of Chris Wilder's Middlesbrough a week on Saturday for his return from a muscle injury.

"He will be out of this game," confirmed the Spaniard. "He's a doubt for the midweek game, maybe he can play in midweek because he's going to train today (Friday), but will should be at a physical level to be ready for the next week's game."

Jordan Rhodes has stepped up his training after a back injury and is set to do so again next week.

"He's progressing very well," said Corberan of the striker. "This week he has done some drills with the team but not the training games because the medics don't allow him to be involved in any game situation but in the next week we will start to introduce him to game situations to start the process of adapting to the football level.

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"It's a long-term injury and we usually spend a lot more time to adapt him, not just physically, but he's been doing a good job in the gym and I expect him to need less time for recovery than I was thinking. I am watching him well and we start to work well within the group."

The back injury goalkeeper Ryan Schofield suffered in the B team this week did not stop him training on Friday and all being well, he is expected to be on the bench against West Brom.

The situation on Aaron Rowe, who fractured his toe in pre-season, is no clearer.

"It's an injury where the doctors cannot determine when he's going to come back," said Corberan. "He can come back as soon as he doesn't have pain and but it's been a long-term injury."

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