HEREFORD are to be without marksman Jason Cowley longer than expected after the striker suffered a setback in his recovery from injury.

The 28-year-old has been out injured since pre-season and was expected to return shortly.

However, Bulls boss Paul Caddis revealed the striker will need another scan on his ankle.

“Cowley has had a setback,” said Caddis.

“We’re going to have to re-scan him. He trained on Tuesday (last week) and did a bit of shooting with the medical team.

“There was no impact, it was the way he has hit the ball and he’s woken up Wednesday morning and his ankle is like a balloon.

“He’s someone in a game like today (Ilkeston on Saturday) with that tenacity and intensity would have made a big difference, but we don’t have him so there’s no point crying about it.”

Young midfielder Preston Bitemo is set to have a lengthy spell on the sidelines with a stress fracture and several other Hereford players are also struggling.

“We missed eight players on Thursday night (last week) through different things,” said Caddis.

“We’ve got players who have got tight muscles, hamstrings and knee problems.”