Ipswich Town striker David McGoldrick is facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines with a ‘nasty hamstring tear’, while Teddy Bishop will not be involved over the Christmas period due to another injury set-back.

With his previous two campaigns having been cut short by knee injuries, McGoldrick – who has suffered from various set-backs – has made eight start and 11 substitute appearances in a stop-start season.

“He’s got quite a nasty tear in his hamstring so he’ll be out for a while,” said Blues boss Mick McCarthy, who picked up the injury in training ahead of Tuesday’s 2-1 win at Craven Cottage.

“He’s had an awful year, it’s very unfortunate and it was so innocuous. He just went to back-heel a pass to somebody and pulled up.

“You couldn’t imagine that he would have done the damage to his hamstring that he has just by doing that.

“It’s very sad, very tough for him. He’s going to be missing for quite a while but on the other side of that we’ve just signed Luke Varney today so that’s a replacement, a body to come in and we’re back to four strikers again, which is great. But we’ll miss Didzy.”

On teenage midfielder Bishop, who burst onto the scene last season but has not featured at all in 2015/16 due to a combination of shin and hamstring problems, McCarthy said: “He won’t be involved over Christmas because his hamstring is still bothering him. When’s he likely to be back? How long is a piece of string?

“It’s very, very sad with him because he keeps getting back to a certain point where he comes out and trains.

“We’re very thorough, our physio department are excellent, Matt Byard and his team are great, and the docs. And we send him to the best specialists to get him looked at.

“So it’s very frustrating for him, very sad for him because he’s a talented player and very frustrating for the medical team and for me because I’ve got a fantastic young talent that I can’t select at the minute.”

Meanwhile, there was better news regarding midfielder Cole Skuse, who had to be substituted at half-time of Tuesday night’s 2-1 win at Fulham with a broken nose.

“Skusey will be fine, he’s fit and he’ll be playing tomorrow,” said McCarthy, speaking ahead of the home match against third-place Derby at Portman Road. “He’s sat out of training just to protect it for now.

“He’ll be okay. I think he’ll have to have it repaired next week. There’s a queue to do that for him, by the way!”

Winger Larsen Toure remains sidelined (groin), while Ryan Fraser – an unused sub in the last two games following his recovery from a knee injury – has picked up a slight knock in training.

“Ryan Fraser got a kick on his calf and I’m hoping that he’ll be okay, but we’ll see,” said McCarthy. “He’s just pulled up this morning, it was starting to tighten up. I think he’ll be all right to be involved. Other than that we’re okay.”