Defender Wilmot's injury 'not as bad as feared'

Ben Wilmot has made 138 Stoke City appearances since arriving from Watford in June 2021

Stoke City boss Mark Robins has revealed a leg injury to defender Ben Wilmot is not as serious as first thought but he will still face an undefined period out of action.

The 25-year-old was hurt by a tackle late on in Wednesday's 3-1 Championship defeat by Portsmouth.

Having briefly given the Potters hope by pulling a goal back after they trailed 2-0 inside nine minutes at Fratton Park, Wilmot's night ended badly when he was on the wrong end of a full-blooded challenge in injury time from home midfielder Terry Devlin.

"He went for an X-ray and it's cleared up that there is no fracture so that's a positive," Potters boss Mark Robins told BBC Radio Stoke.

"There is soft tissue damage and bone damage, I think, but no fracture. But there'll be bruising and he'll have a period of time out - but it won't be as long as we may have feared."

Wilmot has started 23 of Stoke's 28 Championship games this season, scoring twice.

Stoke have now played 14 games in 61 days since the last international break in November - and Robins admits there is no escaping the Championship's relentless, punishing schedule.

Having conceded his Potters side were "bullied" by Pompey, who rolled out "all the dark arts", he admitted: "If you're playing in a lot of games like that, and as often as we are doing, you're going to pick up injuries. There's no getting away from it.

"You've got to fight for the right to play football in this league. And one or two look really tired, out on their feet - but you've got to be able to deal with it."

Robins, who suffered his first defeat as Stoke boss in his fourth game in charge, was already without midfielder Ben Pearson, who "might be ready for a game with the under-21s next week", and centre-back Ben Gibson, who is "hopefully not too far away".

He also has midfielders Lynden Gooch and teenager Sol Sidibe (back) sidelined, while striker Million Manhoef is "making steady progress" after eight games out.

Having lost for the first time in six games to be overtaken by Pompey, dropping to 19th in the table, Stoke now face successive games against two more of the teams in and around them.

They face former Potters boss Gary Rowett's 14th-placed Oxford United on Saturday before a trip the following weekend to 22nd-placed Hull City, before an FA Cup fourth-round home date with Cardiff City on Saturday, 8 February.

Stoke have so far made just one signing in the January window, left-back Josh Wilson-Esbrand on loan from Manchester City, while recalling midfielder Lewis Baker from Blackburn and striker Nathan Lowe from Walsall.

Mark Robins was talking to BBC Radio Stoke's Mark Elliott