NEWPORT County AFC club captain James Clarke is a major doubt for Saturday’s trip to Morecambe after suffering an injury in training.

The 34-year-old centre-back is being assessed by County medical staff after sustaining a leg injury.

And head coach Nelson Jardim is making contingency plans for the League Two clash at the Mazuma Mobile Stadium.

“Clarkey picked up a leg injury during a training session and he’s going to be assessed,” said Jardim at Friday’s pre-match press conference. “We don’t know if he’s going to be available or not. I hope so.

“He’s been great on and off the pitch and we hope he’ll be OK. But I’m confident that we’re covered. We’ve got a good group of defenders working hard every day and if Clarkey is unavailable, it will be a chance for others to come in and do a job.

“We’ve got more than enough, in terms of availability of other players who can do the same job.”

The Exiles will also be without midfielder Kai Whitmore after he missed last week’s win over Accrington Stanley with a calf injury.

And striker Hamzad Kargbo is also still sidelined after suffering a shoulder injury in the 3-2 defeat at Cheltenham Town on the opening day of the season.

“We hope that Kai will be back in another three weeks,” said Jardim.

“Hamzad got his surgery this week. It went well and he’s starting his process of recovery. We reckon he’ll be out for the next three months. The medical department expect that he’s going to be back probably in the first week of December.”

After back-to-back home wins over Doncaster Rovers and Accrington, County go in search of their first victory on the road this weekend.

Morecambe are bottom of the table having yet to score a goal in their three games so far, but Jardim is not expecting an easy ride.

“I’ve seen all three games, and they were a little bit unlucky,” said the Portuguese coach. “They lost 1-0 every game, but they played two away games. That’s always hard and we expect a tough game. We have to be competitive, play our game, and hope it goes our way.

“We want to improve on what we did at Cheltenham, and I’m quite confident that we can do that.”

County hope to have new loan signings Noah Mawene and Jamie Miley available to play against Morecambe, and Jardim is close to adding another striker to his squad before the transfer window shuts at 11pm tonight.

“We are happy with what we’ve got,” he said. “We signed Noah and Miley to give us a little bit more cover in the middle. And we’re hoping that we can sign another player – a striker for the front line.”

And there are not expected to be any players leaving Rodney Parade today.

“As it stands, we are satisfied,” added Jardim. “We are happy with the group we’ve got.

“I feel that everyone is happy to be here with us working every day and following the style we want to implement in this club.

“As long as I feel everyone is engaged, is happy to develop and happy to be a part of this club, it’s fine. So, I’m not expecting anyone to leave.”