NEWPORT County AFC striker Chris Zebroski could be out for between six and eight weeks after dislocating his kneecap during Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Braintree Town in the FA Cup.

The latest addition to the casualty list leaves County manager Justin Edinburgh little room to rotate his squad for tomorrow’s Johnstone’s Paint Trophy area quarter-final against Portsmouth at Rodney Parade (kick-off 7.45pm).

Defender Ismail Yakubu also suffered a knock to his knee at Cressing Road and is a doubt for the visit of Pompey.

The injuries, adding to those of Andy Sandell, Byron Anthony, Andrew Hughes, Adedeji Oshilaja, Max Porter and Aaron O’Connor, put a dampener on the day for Edinburgh.

“We think Chris Zebroski has dislocated his kneecap and that is just the way our luck’s going at the moment,” he said.

“It really takes the gloss of the great second half and I don’t know what we’ve done to deserve this run of bad luck with injuries.

“Chris is certainly in some discomfort and that is not looking promising.

“We’re having a bad run of it but the players’ attitude and the desire to play for this football club is great to see.

“We’ve just got to keep going and hopefully we’ll get some players back sooner rather than later,” he added.

“Ismail took a bad whack to the knee as well but Christian Jolley got minutes under his belt, Harry Worley came through it successfully and Robbie Willmott comes back into the squad.

“So there are positives. Andrew Hughes is not too far away and Deji will be close for Tuesday as well.”

The Exiles boss saw his side produce a dreadful display in the first half but Tom Naylor cancelled out Chez Isaac’s ninth minute opener five minutes into the second half.

And the visitors would have won the tie but for a combination of bad luck and inspired defending from Braintree.

The sides will meet again in the replay at Rodney Parade on Tuesday, November 19, for the right to travel to Kidderminster Harriers in round two.

“It’s another game for us now sometimes you have to give the opposition credit and I thought they were very good first half,” said Edinburgh.

“It was a very good cup tie and a good response from my players.

“We had some words at half-time and I thought we were excellent second half.

“Without some heroic defending from Braintree and some good saves from the goalkeeper we would have gone on and won the game.

“On chances created we could have won it but when you’re away from home you want to leave still in the hat and that’s what we did.

“We know we’ve got a very tricky game and Braintree will provide another stern test at Rodney Parade,” he added.

“We have to be a little bit more consistent over 90 minutes and if we do that with our home form we’re confident we can win the replay.”