QPR striker Dykes to stay sidelined with hamstring injury

QPR striker Lyndon Dykes has been ruled out of Wednesday’s clash with Nottingham Forest and this Sunday’s game against Peterborough as he continues to battle back from a hamstring problem.

Dykes, who has missed the past five matches, scored in the 1-1 draw with Forest earlier in the season at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium, is being pencilled in for a possible return for the Fulham game on April 2. He is expected to miss Scotland’s game against Poland on March 24.

“We will see how he is. We will miss Lyndon, but he is gym-based at the moment, will go to sports science and be eased back in to training slowly,” Rangers boss Mark Warburton said.

“We always want our players to go away at get international experience but if he is not fit for us he is not fit for Scotland.

“It’s unfortunate that it is one of those niggling injuries that has carried on far longer than we would have hoped for.”

Fourth-placed Rangers can consolidate their play-off place with a win against the in-form Reds, who have been transformed into a genuine promotion contender under Steve Cooper having been bottom of the table before his arrival earlier this season.

Rangers have only ever won once at the City Ground in their history, under Steve McClaren in 2018, and Warburton could make changes to his starting line-up, with Charlie Austin potentially starting alongside Andre Gray up front.

Sam McCallum and Luke Amos could also come into the team to help deal with the pace of Forest’s dangerous right-side of Djed Spence and Brennan Johnson.

Warburton, admitted after the recent Blackburn defeat he was wrong not to change up his team following a hard-fought victory over Blackpool with 10 men and said he has a decision to make on his team selection following Sunday’s vital win over Luton at Kenilworth Road.

“We’ve got just one injury at the moment so we have a full squad to choose from. They are fresh from a good victory so commonsense would tell you to go with the same team,” Warburton said.

“But then again we look at what happened at the Blackburn game.

“Blackburn was my fault, but you try and get the balance right, but the fact was we had just beaten Blackpool with 10 players, there was a fantastic team unity and togetherness and they were riding high. I thought ‘Great, we’re going to be ready for Blackburn’.

“But we weren’t. We were leggy, tired and sub-par and although it was only 1-0 to a freaky goal we were below our best.

“So I have to look at it, although Sunday was a good performance, we had 11 men on the pitch, we had to battle hard and it was scrappy, but we were good second half.

“I have heard some comments which I find bemusing, but I thought we looked dangerous.

“They (Luton) have been complaining about our goal being offside, but the handball for Luton’s goal was far more obvious than any decision that afternoon.

“We have a choice, do we mix it up or do we keep the same team? We’ll have to wait and see.”