SUSPENSION rules out Darren Bullock from the Crawley Town match on Saturday and his competitive game will certainly be missed in the middle of the park.

In a previous life at Nuneaton Borough the midfielder was dubbed 'Mad Dog' by the supporters in homage to his tough tackling and was even introduced over the tannoy as 'mad dog' Bullock to wild cheering.

But though it is certainly fair to say Bullock's game has an element of bite about it, he also has an impressive array of passing to call upon when he's not nipping at opponents' legs, and his presence will be missed against the Reds.

Another likely absentee is Darren Middleton who is awaiting the results of another scan on his knee and he remains doubtful for Saturday's match as does Dwaine McFarlane who is struggling to shrug off a thigh muscle problem.

Just two weeks after going under the knife to remove scar tissue from his patella tendon, Ian Cottrill has already started power walking and is due to begin running shortly.

According to first team coach, Mick Tuohy, Cottrill is making great strides and is looking at a return in six to eight weeks. "He's feeling good and very positive about the knee and looking to be back at the turn of the year," said Tuohy.

Defender Chris Greenman has also pencilled in a January return following surgery to staple ligaments in his shoulder back together. "I'm doing fine but I've been told to avoid any contact so competitive matches are out until after Christmas," he said.

Barton's bad luck with injuries is not confined to just City - in his two spells at Burton Albion and City combined his players have undergone something like 12 major operations - ouch.

City players expecting to put their feet up during next year's summer break could be in for a shock.

"We feel a lot of the problems we've had relate to players missing pre season through injury or work so they will have their own fitness programmes to remain in shape," said Tuohy.

City's injury woes are such that Tuohy has not had two training sessions with the same set of players.

"There's always someone missing for one reason or another but that is non-league football and unfortunately people have jobs and travel all over the country so it's never easy to get everyone together especially with all the injuries," he said.

If practice makes perfect then top marks to Mark Shepherd who Tuohy revealed stays behind after training session to work on his game.

Barton's staff are busy scouring the leagues in pursuit of new talent. Just to give an idea of how hard they work, chief scout Graham Selby, revealed he has only seen 25 per cent of City's games - mind you judging by recent displays that might be a blessing.