DEVASTATED Steve Davis is facing up to a bleak midwinter after having his knee immobilised with the warning he could be out for up to three months.

"I thought bad luck was supposed to come in threes," he moaned. "This is the sixth injury I have had in just over a year, it has been a nightmare."

And the loss of his influential and inspirational captain is the latest blow to Stan Ternent, whose paper thin squad is again being stretched to breaking point.

With Lee Briscoe struggling with a groin strain, Andy Payton recovering from a hernia operation and Paul Cook waiting for the verdict on his shoulder injury following a meeting yesterday, he is already facing up to having just 16 fit players for the trip to Gillingham at the weekend.

It is the long term loss of Davis that is the real hammer blow and the 34-year-old skipper admitted: "I am gutted. It has just been one thing after another. I am going for a scan on Friday but it looks like it is a problem with my medial ligaments.

"It was just a block tackle in the second half on Saturday and I am devastated to be injured again. I will be out for at least a couple of months and just hope I can play some part at the end of the season.

"I have got the leg in a brace so that it stops any sideways movement and I hope that will mean that I won't have to have an operation. But we won't know until the scan at the end of the week."

Davis actually scored the second of his two goals against Rotherham after suffering the injury and he explained: "The gaffer just asked me to stay up front and struggle on. I did not want to come off but when we let in the fifth he took me off to avoid risking any more damage.

"That was the right thing to do in the end because it meant that it did not snap."

The skipper's injury problems began just over a year ago when he injured his knee at Gillingham.

The extent of the damage was not realised but he was not to play again until four months later.

When he did return, he was quickly sidelined again before returning for the last game of the season.

Having featured in only half of the league matches last season, he was hopeful of being a virtual ever present this time around, as he has been for most of his career.

But from the moment he injured his calf in a tackle with Paul Ince at Wolves on the second day of the season, it has been stop-start before reaching a dead halt at the weekend.

He has not even been safe on the training ground as a freak injury at Gawthorpe kept him out for a couple of weeks.

It has just been one thing after another but I just have to get on with it," he explained.