Full-back Jon Otsemobor joined City's casualty list after being stretchered off with ankle ligament damage in the home defeat by Derby. And midfielder Sammy Clingan has withdrawn from the Northern Ireland squad for two World Cup qualifying matches after aggravating his shoulder injury on his return to the side.

Full-back Jon Otsemobor joined City's casualty list after being stretchered off with ankle ligament damage in the home defeat by Derby.

And midfielder Sammy Clingan has withdrawn from the Northern Ireland squad for two World Cup qualifying matches after aggravating his shoulder injury on his return to the side.

Manager Glenn Roeder said he was grateful for a blank weekend as the Canaries try to get injured players back in time for the trip to Bristol City on October 18.

Midfielder Matty Pattison (hamstring), defender John Kennedy (ankle) and Gary Doherty (ankle) should all be in better shape by the time City go to Ashton Gate.

Roeder said of Otsemobor: “He was kicked to start with on the ankle, which bled, but he was coping with that, no problem. But in the second half he twisted it and it looks quite nasty at the moment. It's come up like a balloon, so that's ligament damage. We're just picking up too many injuries at the moment for my liking but I've been in this situation before.

“It's not training ground injuries where you can say 'What are we doing in training that's causing these injuries?' All these injuries are happening in the battle of matches and that's where you need to be particularly lucky not to pick up injuries.

“I'm quite happy that we now haven't got a game next week, which will give us a chance to get some of these players fit and ready for Bristol City.”

Clingan misses next week's international matches against Slovenia and San Marino.

“I think Sammy Clingan came in and did particularly well,” said Roeder. “Unfortunately for him, he has tweaked the shoulder again. He needed an injection in it at half-time to quieten it down, so that he could carry on, and consequently because of that he won't be able to join up with Northern Ireland this week. But his general performance I thought was good.”