BARROW AFC must hope Jason Taylor does not join an increasing list of players sidelined through injury after he limped off in Tuesday’s 3-2 win over Chesterfield.

Taylor left the field at Holker Street just before half-time, having hit the top of his foot against the under-side of an opponent’s boot when taking a shot.

He had to be replaced by new signing Steve Jennings – only unveiled by the club several hours earlier after joining on non-contract terms – with the initial prognosis uncertain.

The experienced central midfielder will return to training with his team-mates at Hopwood Hall today, when more will be known about the impact.

Boss Ian Evatt must keep his fingers crossed Taylor does not join Jacob Blyth (dislocated shoulder), Matt Elsdon (a possible meniscus tear to his knee), Brian Wilson (calf) and Rhys Turner (broken metatarsal) as being sidelined, especially after Jennings was sent off late in the victory over Chesterfield and now faces a suspension.

“As he’s taken a shot, the lad has come in with his studs showing and he’s hit the bottom of his foot,” Evatt said. “It’s a nasty impact on the top of his foot – we’re not sure how it is at the moment and we’ll have to play it by ear.

“It’s right on the top of his foot. Rhys is with his fourth metatarsal, but this is more the top of his foot. Hopefully, it’s just a nasty bruise, but we’ll have to wait and see.

“Hopefully it is just a whack.” He added: “They’re injuries that we can’t really avoid either. They’re contact injuries from tackles – we’re not having the rub of the green with that at the moment.”

While the Bluebirds await confirmation of the damage to Taylor, they know they will be without Jennings. He picked up a red card late in the game for a second bookable offence after a late tackle.

Evatt did not agree with the dismissal – nor with that of Chesterfield’s Jerome Binnom-Williams for a tackle on Nathan Waterston earlier in the half – but is glad to have former Tranmere captain Jennings on board.

The AFC boss said: “He’s massively experienced. He was with us all through pre-season, so he’s part of the group now, and with the injuries we’ve had, we’ve been able to bring him in – again, thank you to the chairman and everybody else who is backing me to bring these bodies in, because they’re much needed.”

The win over Chesterfield was achieved thanks to a fourth goal of the season from Jack Hindle and two in three minutes from loanee striker Tyler Smith.

AFC showed their skills against the visitors when they went down to 10 men, and Evatt said: “That’s what we’re built to do, luckily for us. That’s what we work on day-in, day-out at training – passing the ball, breaking the opposition down, working the overload, and I thought we did that really well.

“We got a bit sloppy towards the end, because it became a bit easy. We’ve got to learn that when we’ve got the hand on the jugular, we’ve got to go for the kill. We’ve not quite grasped that yet, but other than that I’m so delighted for the lads because the effort and desire they have put in is fantastic.”