New signing Luke Chadwick faces the prospect of a spell on the sidelines after what looked like being a dream debut at Portman Road turned distinctly sour.

New signing Luke Chadwick faces the prospect of a spell on the sidelines after what looked like being a dream debut at Portman Road turned distinctly sour.

The on-loan winger's joy at hitting the back of the net just 26 minutes into his Norwich debut on Sunday was tarnished not only by the final result but also by an injury that required hospital treatment.

Chadwick was sent crashing into the advertising hoardings by a second half challenge from Town's Matthew Bates and although fears of a bad shoulder injury proved unfounded it later transpired that he had suffered a nasty gash on his knee.

After being stretchered off the 25-year-old winger was taken to hospital in Ipswich where he underwent an operation to mend the wound. He remained under observation yesterday and although he is expected to be discharged this morning he is poised to miss City's forthcoming home games against Hull on Saturday and Leicester next Tuesday evening.

What happens after that is a matter for conjecture at this early stage and manager Peter Grant can only keep his fingers crossed that Chadwick makes a quick recovery at a time when another right-sided player, Lee Croft, is also on the sidelines through injury.

City physio Neal Reynolds revealed yesterday that the City new-boy had been lucky to escape with nothing worse than a badly cut knee following a fair, but extremely robust challenge from on-loan Middlesbrough youngster Bates.

“He had surgery done on his knee on Sunday night to clear it up,” Reynolds told the club's official website. “He's had a really nasty gash on it. It was very deep and long - but if it had been three inches lower it could have been much more serious.”

Reynolds is still waiting to speak to the surgeon who carried out the operation, and only then will he be able to estimate how long Chadwick could be out of action for.

At least the new signing escaped a shoulder injury following his nasty-looking fall.

Reynolds said there may have been a brief dislocation, but he wasn't expecting it to cause the player any problems.

“If it was dislocated it went back in very quickly - he put it back in himself,” he explained.

Grant went into Sunday's derby clash without the services of midfielder Youssef Safri, who was suffering from a bout of flu, but there's a good chance he will be fit for the two home games in the space of four days which are coming up.

Tickets for the fixtures against Hull and Leicester are now on general sale. Category B prices apply and full details of availability can be obtained by ringing the club on 0870 4441902.

Meanwhile members can now book their seats for the clash with Sheffield Wednesday on December 9.