Sheffield United's Chris Basham out until international break with knee injury

Basham's injury means Sheffield United continue to mix and match on the right hand side of their back three, with Charlie Goode picking up a problem in training whilst suspended

The midfielder went off injured in the first half of the 4-1 win over Middlesbrough, but Sheffield United hope that by acting early, they have limited the damage. He will not be fit to face Coventry City on Saturday, but he is expected to be back reasonably soon.

"Everyone’s happy he came off when he did," said Heckingbottom. "It’s one of the deeper muscles in his groin so hopefully it’s not too bad. He’ll be out for a while but he doesn’t need a scan. This is why I don’t like putting dates on it. I’ve said before when I know it’s been a long time and you don’t want anyone else to know, I think it’s days rather than weeks."

Basham injured his knee against Swansea City in mid-February, and has not featured since.

"That was always going to be a longer one, he won’t be back before the (international) break," revealed Heckingbottom. "We knew about that and had some big games coming up, and we had some wing-back problems. We wanted to play down our problems but he’s not involved and training, so he’ll be a few more weeks."

On fellow central defender Goode, Heckingbottom said: "Charlie’s had a little reaction with his cartilage, a bit of swelling on his knee so we’re trying to get that down. He trained today (Thursday) but he’s aware of it and as much as he wants to play and be involved, we know there’s an issue there and we’ve got to look into it."