Taylor adds to Blades' injury woes with groin problem

The Blades have already sold Matthew Kilgallon to Sunderland and have lost Marcel Seip to injury.

With so many problems in the backline, left-back Taylor was asked to play in Tuesday's 3-0 win over Reading despite nursing a groin problem.

He was substituted at half-time after aggravating the injury and will now be sidelined until the start of March.

Kevin Blackwell has only two fit central defenders in Chris Morgan and Jonathan Fortune, with the latter not fully match-fit after only recently recovering from a torn hamstring.

West Brom defender Leon Barnett tops Blackwell's wishlist with Sunderland's Nyron Nosworthy, Portsmouth's Aaron Mokoena and Reading's Matthew Mills also on the Blades' radar.

"I asked Andrew to play and it did affect him," said Blackwell following Tuesday's win which lifted United into the Championship's top six.

"He showed team spirit and gave what he could.

"Jonathan Fortune is out on his feet and had a horrendous Achilles injury last season.

"He tore his hamstring against Bristol City this season and I didn't expect to lose Matthew Kilgallon and Marcel Seip in the same weekend.

"I have got to try and get another centre-half in and if I can I will but it's proving very difficult at the moment.

"We have nine games in February which, at this level, is just madness. That's been our Achilles heel this season – loss of players through injury. I am aware that we are slightly short."

Burnley manager Brian Laws has reacted swiftly to the defeat by Bolton which plunged the club into the Barclays Premier League relegation zone for the first time this season.

Yesterday he drafted in experienced defender Leon Cort from Stoke for 1.5m and former Manchester City goalkeeper Nicky Weaver, following his spell at Dundee United.

Stoke say the deal could rise to 2m for Cort, who has put signed a three-and-a half-year deal at Turf Moor.