Canaries defender John Kennedy will have a scan today to determine the extent of the damage suffered to his troublesome left knee. The 25-year-old is due back in Scotland on January 1 when his loan spell comes to an end - but City fans may already have seen the last of him.

Canaries defender John Kennedy will have a scan today to determine the extent of the damage suffered to his troublesome left knee.

The 25-year-old is due back in Scotland on January 1 when his loan spell comes to an end - but City fans may already have seen the last of him.

Kennedy limped off in the last minute at Reading on Saturday after jarring the knee which has already suffered two major injuries, costing him almost four years of a career and restricting him to just 56 appearances since his debut in 1999.

“There's nothing to say until John has his scan tomorrow and from that we will see whether he will stay at Norwich for rehabilitation or return to Celtic,” said City boss Glenn Roeder yesterday.

It means Roeder will have to reorganise his backline once again, with Elliott Omozusi and Adam Drury now coming into the equation. Omozusi replaced Kennedy on Saturday and while right-back appears to be his preferred role, he did well last week when paired with Gary Doherty against Ipswich and Watford.

If Omozusi moves to the middle, Roeder has a ready-made right-back in Jon Otsemobor, but he may prefer Drury, who has proved equally adept in the centre despite a preference for left-back.

With Dejan Stefanovic out for the season with cruciate ligament damage, there is just one specialist centre half - Doherty.

Even if Kennedy's scan reveals no major damage, he is likely to be a major doubt for Saturday's home game against Charlton and possibly for what was due to be his final game, the Carrow Road game against Nottingham Forest on December 28.

Both visitors are in the Championship bottom three, and Doherty admits the games have now assumed “massive” significance.

Doherty knows City must make the most of their chance to inflict damage on their fellow strugglers, but urged his team-mates to stay positive, convinced that their performances have deserved better reward than an alarming seven points from the last 10 games.

“They're massive games, of course, but our home form has been decent and with the Ipswich win, it's got everyone on a high,” said 28-year-old Doherty.

“We've got to stay positive because we know we've played well. We played well against Sheffield Wednesday and at Watford and again here today, but come away with nothing. Things have to start going in for us.”