City manager Glenn Roeder has a new defensive headache ahead of tomorrow night's visit of Crystal Palace after a double setback in the 2-1 win at Nottingham Forest.

City manager Glenn Roeder has a new defensive headache ahead of tomorrow night's visit of Crystal Palace after a double setback in the 2-1 win at Nottingham Forest.

Gary Doherty is suspended after his first-half red card at the City Ground, while Elliott Omozusi, who switched to centre-half after Doherty's exit, is struggling after coming off with a hamstring injury.

With Dejan Stefanovic out for the season with knee ligament damage, Roeder has the option of bringing in another loan defender by tomorrow, recalling loan signing Troy Archibald-Henville from Tottenham or persevering with those in his squad.

Midfielder Sammy Clingan switched to the back four in the second half against Forest, while Adam Drury - left out of the 16 completely - has played in the centre of defence twice this season.

Roeder said of Omozusi: “He's got a very tight hamstring. This time it's the other hamstring from the one that cost him a couple of games recently.

“These are young lads, Ryan Bertrand and Elliott. They're not yet hardened pros at playing week in, week out at the sort of pace they're asked to play at and they're still growing. We're aware of that. They're going to be a little bit more susceptible to an injury than an older player.

“We'll see how he is for Tuesday. It's too early to say.”

Drury's continued absence was, said Roeder, down to his desire to have two strikers on the bench at Forest, though neither were used.

He said: “They all want to play. They don't like to be left out. Leaving Adam Drury out of the 16 - he was the 17th one today - is not easy. He's a great lad, a great professional, but decisions have to be made and I decided to go with Jon Otsemobor, who was a little bit unfortunate not to start today. I wanted to make sure we had a couple of strikers on the bench if we needed them, especially as I knew we were only going to start with Leroy Lita up through the middle.”

Wes Hoolahan was sacrificed after Doherty's exit in order to bring on another defender in Otsemobor.

“Hoolahan was very unlucky to be taken off,” said Roeder. “He actually started the game very well, but it was a no-brainer for me. Unfortunately Wes had to come off and he's accepted it like I would expect him to accept it - disappointed but knew it was the right thing to do tactically.”