CHRIS LAKEY Peter Grant is waiting for the phone call that could go a long way to solving yet another Carrow Road injury crisis. The Canaries boss says a loan deal before tomorrow's clash against Sunderland is on - although it won't be for cover for his central defence, where the latest jinx has struck.

CHRIS LAKEY

Peter Grant is waiting for the phone call that could go a long way to solving yet another Carrow Road injury crisis.

The Canaries boss says a loan deal before tomorrow's clash against Sunderland is on - although it won't be for cover for his central defence, where the latest jinx has struck.

Gary Doherty and Craig Fleming are both major doubts, with Grant not confident of either making the sort of recovery which made strikers Darren Huckerby and Robert Earnshaw such surprise inclusions for the game against Colchester in midweek.

"If I was a betting man I would say both of them would be out," said Grant, who has put teenager Michael Spillane and veteran striker Dion Dublin on standby.

Grant is also preparing for the possibility that Lee Croft could be ruled out for up to three months. The right winger is to have more tests on the left foot injury sustained at Stoke on Saturday - with an operation to mend damaged ligaments the worst case scenario.

"If he progresses and is stable next Tuesday it could be four to six weeks," Grant said.

"If not he will need an operation and that could make it three months. Definitely next Tuesday will be the cut-off point for that, one way or another - either an operation or it will heal by itself, so we are keeping our fingers crossed."

That means the phone lines out of Colney have been red hot again as Grant looks to patch up a squad that has not been at its full complement since he arrived three-and-a-half weeks ago.

So far, his efforts have been fruitless, although yesterday he refused to write off the possibility of a new arrival.

"Something could happen before the weekend," he confirmed. "I am waiting on a couple of calls back so we will see, but I couldn't throw any light on that at this moment in time - I'll probably know more about that late tomorrow."

The lack of depth in Grant's squad is hitting home with each injury, but the manager insists he is not concerned with the quality.

"I am not desperate in the respect that I still think I have got quality here," he said.

"It is unfortunate for us that we just seem to be getting injuries in the same position.

"Last week it was the two strikers, this week it's the two centre-backs, so it is just disappointing that way, not the fact that you get injuries because everybody gets injuries.

"We have to deal with it, but when you have not got the biggest squad in the world you just hope it's not in the same area.

"I have still been on the phone to managers this morning. It's the same thing, they're going to get back to me later, others are saying, 'he picked up a knock in the reserves the other night', or 'he needs to be available Saturday'.

"This is a conversation we have with everybody, not just teams in the Championship, it's team in the Premier League as well, who have massive squads supposedly, and unfortunately they are not allowing us to have anyone at this moment in time."