Bristol City dealt huge injury blow ahead of Sheffield Wednesday clash at Hillsborough

Bristol City have been dealt a huge injury blow ahead of this weekend's trip to face Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough. The Robins travel to South Yorkshire in the hope of being able to record their third win in four games under Liam Manning, who succeeded former Owl Nigel Pearson in November.

However, they will have to travel without key man Sam Bell, who has been ruled out for the remainder of the season due to a hamstring injury. Bell has featured in all 33 of Bristol's Championship matches but he pulled up in the 26th minute of the clash with QPR last weekend and scan results have confirmed the need for surgery.

It comes as a huge blow for Manning, who will now be considering his selection options ahead of the clash.

"Not good news, unfortunately, he's picked up a really bad hamstring injury, so he's going to be out for the rest of the season and is going to require surgery," the head coach told Robins TV.

"Really gutted, he was in a terrific spot. His performance levels had really progressed and he was a good example of a lot of the coaching, a lot of the teaching is around the reliability and doing what the team needs and what you look like on a bad day, as well as a good day.

"I thought his reliability, he's doing his job for the team, was at an exceptional level and sometimes your strengths can be pushed to the back when you're concentrating so much on that. But really felt the last 2-3 games, he's started to bring his qualities and his strengths back, as well as the reliability so really disappointed for him.

"For me, for him, we're gutted, but at the same point, the age and the stage of his career he's at, and what we do here is to continue to ensure he learns the game so it's not out-of-sight, out-of-mind; we'll sit, we'll do video, we'll make sure he continually progresses so that when he does return to training for pre-season he's in the best place possible."

Wednesday know they could move to within a point of safety with a win on Saturday and after picking up two wins in their last three, they'll be confident of continuing their push to remain in the second tier.