Cardiff keeper Alnwick to miss rest of season

Jak Alnwick signed a new contract last month, keeping him at Cardiff until 2026

Cardiff City are set to be without Jak Alnwick for the rest of the season after the goalkeeper tore his hamstring.

Alnwick suffered the injury towards the end of last Saturday's 1-1 draw at Plymouth Argyle but, as Cardiff had made all of their available substitutions, the 31-year-old had to stay on the pitch for the duration of the match that lasted beyond 102 minutes.

United States international Ethan Horvath deputised for him in Tuesday's 1-0 win over Hull City, just a second league clean sheet since October for the Welsh side.

"Jak's had a bad tear in his hamstring. That will rule him out probably until the end of the season," said Cardiff manager Omer Riza.

"It's a shame for him and a shame for us because he's been excellent. But Ethan has got a lot of experience and he's been waiting patiently so it's an opportunity for him."

Cardiff were without several players for the Hull game, with centre-back Dimitrios Goutas suspended following his red card at Plymouth and on-loan attacking midfielder Will Alves ruled out after sustaining an injury during the same game.

Club captain Joe Ralls had already injured his calf, fellow midfielder David Turnbull is a long-term absentee, centre-back Jasper Daland is sidelined with a cut to his leg and midfielder Aaron Ramsey was unavailable as he is only able to play one game a week as he manages his workload after a long lay-off.

"Will Alves took a whack on his knee against Plymouth and it swelled up. We're managing that and hopefully that's not too serious," Riza added.

"Joe Ralls pulled his calf before the Plymouth game, hence why we couldn't get him on and why Rambo [Ramsey] had to play 100 minutes. I think that's two or three weeks [for Ralls].

"Joel Bagan managed to get himself on the bench today. We were a bit concerned about how tight his hamstring was. We managed that for him to be on the bench and come on, which is positive.

"Rambo played 100 minutes so to ask him to be involved [against Hull] would have been asking too much."