NEWPORT County AFC manager Justin Edinburgh has backed Ryan Jackson to fill in for injury victim Andy Sandell.

Left wing-back Sandell has been ruled out for at least three months after an operation on his foot revealed ligament damage.

Edinburgh admits that the news came as a big blow but he believes that he has the quality in the squad to cope and if he were to bring in another player on loan it would only be as a back-up to Jackson.

“We’ve picked up a lot of injuries over the last four to six weeks,” said the Exiles boss.

“But the players that have come in have been a credit to this football club and it shows how good this squad is.

“We’ve had a lot of big players injured but we’ve coped really well.

“Andy’s had an operation and he’s going to be out for a minimum of three months, if not longer,” he added.

“It’s a big blow, as it is with all the players we’ve had missing this season.

“He had a problem with a bone in his foot and he’s had that repaired but we’ll find out more over the next couple of days.

“It’s pretty serious. Not one that will affect him playing again but it is going to keep him out for at least three months.”

The loan window opens on Monday but Edinburgh says Jackson, normally a right-sided defender, has his backing after coming in for Sandell at Scunthorpe United last week.

Asked if he would look to add a defender on loan, Edinburgh said: “Possibly. We’ve lost another body and that is the main thing.

“We may have to cover that one, not in terms of the quality but the numbers in the squad. We’ll assess it as we go along.

“I always said I don’t want to dilute the quality of the squad and I think we’ve got more than enough to deal with that.

“But we have to maybe look at it,” he added. “Ryan has got the shirt at the moment and I think he’s been fantastic in the games he’s played this year.

“He would probably be pushing for the place even if Andy was fit for Saturday but it is a question of numbers really.

“The replacement would be coming into the squad to make sure we’ve got adequate numbers to deal with the games we’ve got coming up.”