LAYNE Eadie is a serious doubt for the rest of the season after injuring his ankle against Kettering.

The left back was helped off pitch in the 17th minute last Wednesday and x-rays have revealed he has damaged the ligaments in his left ankle.

Joint boss James Gray is no stranger to the injury and knows it could be a while before Eadie is fit again.

“I’ve had the injury a couple of times and it can be worse than a break,” Gray told the Herts Ad.

“He’s been told to keep the weight off it but if it’s a bad as I’ve done it in the past I don’t expect him to play any part in the rest of the season.

“I’ve been out for three months with this kind of injury before so we’re not goiung to rush him back. We want him to be fully fit and be ready for next season.”

Eadie was replaced by Fabio Bufano for the Totton clash on Saturday. The defender was making his first appearance in the City line up for three months and performed very well.

Gray said after the game that he never doubted Bufano would play well.

“I thought he was outstanding,” he said.

“He was never going to last 90 minutes because he hasn’t played for three months but I was never in doubt about Fabio.

“I knew he could step in and do a great job. I didn’t ask him to get up and down like Layne would, I asked him sit in there and play his natural game like a centre half.

“He’s calm, he’s good in the air and I thought he used the ball well today.

“It was massive for us going forward potentially without Layne for the rest of the season because he can sit there and do that job all day long.”

City are not lacking in depth at the left back position. Youth product Myles Scott came on to replace Eadie and Kettering and made an appearence off the bench on against AFC Totten.