Pierce Sweeney: Exeter City defender to miss Christmas period after surgery

Pierce Sweeney has captained Exeter City for much of the season with skipper Matt Jay out of favour

Influential Exeter City defender Pierce Sweeney will miss the Christmas period after breaking his thumb.

The 28-year-old had been an almost ever-present fixture in the City defence this season.

But he will be out for at least three weeks after undergoing surgery to fix the fracture.

"We were hoping he could have got a cast on to play, but hopefully it'll be a few weeks and that could happen," Exeter manager Gary Caldwell said.

In Sweeney's absence Exeter went down 2-0 at Bolton Wanderers as their winless run extended to five games in all competitions.

"We had to rejig the back three and it wasn't great, but I think the protection in front of them, the press didn't get enough pressure on the ball, it was too easy to play through us, to run off us, and we made it far too easy for Bolton in the first half," Caldwell added to BBC Radio Devon.

"I've not been here a long time, we know it's going to take time to change some things and to develop.

"So we will keep working hard on the training pitch and when the January window opens and we get a few new faces to freshen things up then we'll work in integrating them and developing the team when that happens."