Cambridge United midfielder Adam May sidelined for Sheffield Wednesday clash with knee injury

Cambridge United midfielder Adam May has been ruled out of Saturday’s Sky Bet League One encounter with Sheffield Wednesday at the Abbey Stadium.

The 24-year-old, who has featured in all 13 of United’s league matches this term, was forced off just after the hour mark at Bristol Rovers last weekend with a knee injury.

And while the full extent of the damage will not be known until the results of a scan have come through, head coach Mark Bonner is expecting to be without May’s services ‘for a period of time’.

“We’ll wait for the outcome of the scan but he clearly won’t be available this weekend and will be out for a period of time, but the outcome of that will give us a better time frame of how long that will be,” he said.

“He twisted as he landed in the penalty box so it’s a bit swollen at the moment.

“It’s a shame for him because he’s been playing well and a shame for us obviously, but as always it gives opportunities to others and they’ll be looking forward to taking those.

“It gives opportunities for Simps (Lewis Simper) and (Ben) Worman to get closer to the team, to Liam O’Neil to play and get a run in the team. He’s in a great position to be ready for that so it just opens up opportunities for others.”

Bonner could also be light on numbers defensively for the visit of the Owls.

Summer signing Brandon Haunstrup will not resume training next week, while fellow left-back Harrison Dunk has missed the last couple of games with an ongoing knee problem.

That has resulted in George Williams switching from the right to left flank, with centre-back Jules Okedina moving into a wider defensive position.

Discussing the process behind selecting who will feature in both of the full-back roles, Bonner, who has also been speaking about his side's run of form, added: “Obviously Sheffield Wednesday will want to keep us deep and stop that threat. It’s really important for us if we’re going to build possession or control any periods of the game (and) obviously with our wide attacking threat we’re going to need full-backs that can do that.

“(They need to be) responsible to take the ball and get beyond the halfway line, create good chances for the team and build possession – that will be key.

“At the same time you’re always playing against a team that wants to stop you from doing that.

“We’ll see where Dunks is at as to whether he’s an option that side (and) we know James Brophy is an option on the left side and we know that George has played there a couple of times now on the opposite side to normal with Jubril at right-back.

“We’ve got a couple of options there as to who we can go with and what we can do, but obviously the plan going into this game will be individual to this one (and) different to the previous one, but it’s a game we go into with a real belief that we can cause them some problems.

“You’ve got to work out where are the biggest threats in the team that we can cause them a problem and which unit of the team are we most happy to disrupt.

“We’ll try to put together an 11 from the start that we think has the best chance of (doing) both sides of the game – containing them and bringing some control and quality to our own game. That will be the big decisions to make.”

Goalkeeper Will Mannion missed last weekend’s 2-1 loss at Bristol Rovers with a knee injury and he will also be absent against Wednesday, but he should return to the squad in the near future.