SIMON Cox has not sustained a significant fracture – but will have an MRI scan today to ascertain the extent of his ankle injury, which could still leave him on the sidelines for some time.
X-rays have shown the Nottingham Forest striker has not suffered any major breaks, but the club are still facing a nervous wait to see how bad possible damage is to his ligaments.
Cox, who was injured following a challenge by Kevin Foley during an encouraging 2-1 win over Wolves, may still be out of action until January.
The Reds may consider recalling either David McGoldrick or Matt Derbyshire from their loan spells at Coventry or Oldham respectively, as cover in attack.
Forest cannot recall Marcus Tudgay, as he has not been at Barnsley for 28 days, and they are unlikely to consider bringing back high-earner Ishmael Miller from Middlesbrough.
But with Henri Lansbury, Lewis McGugan and Radi Majewski – who could return from his ankle injury before Christmas – all capable of playing just off a striker and Robbie Findley having returned from his loan at Gillingham, O'Driscoll says he may try to get by with the players he has.
"It was a foul, but it was not deliberate. It is just one of those things that happens sometimes," said O'Driscoll. "The preliminary X-ray has ruled out a significant fracture, he will have an MRI scan now to see what damage there is.
"But he has a badly damaged ankle, whether there is a fracture or not. Because he can play that role on the right, or do a job for us up front, we are going to miss him if he is out for any length of time.
"We have four or five forwards out on loan and one or two of those are players who are coming up to the point where they can be recalled.
"We cannot recall Marcus, but there are other options. Lewis can play off the striker, Henri can do that as well. So we can work things if we need to, we can mix and match things.
"Radi can do it as well and he could be back in a couple of weeks. Robbie Findley is also back at the club already.
"We will muddle through until January and then we have the opportunity to bring in reinforcements if we need them."
O'Driscoll admits how Forest manage their injuries between now and when the transfer window opens again, could be critical.
And he revealed that Forest had been facing a defensive injury crisis in the run-up to their victory at Molineux.
"We were fretting on the fitness of three central defenders," he said.
"Greg Halford, Danny Collins and Daniel Ayala had not trained up to that point and we were scratching our heads trying to think what back four we might be able to put out.
"If everyone had been fit, we would have let the loan window go without doing anything, but we brought Alan Hutton in to give us some defensive cover.
"Danny Collins came through when we had been told that he could be out for two or three weeks. He came through training on Friday and declared himself fit. Daniel Ayala had another injection in his back and also declared himself fit on Friday.
"Greg has tweaked his calf so we did not feel we could risk him."
