Ipswich Town’s promotion hopes have been dealt a huge blow after flying winger Ryan Fraser was ruled out for at least two months yesterday with a knee ligament injury.

The on-loan Bournemouth man, 21, has quickly become a crowd favourite at Portman Road, netting four goals already this season.

Fraser damaged his medial ligament during his time with the Scotland under-21s squad last week and will miss a busy period, with the Blues set to play 11 games in the next eight weeks.

“Ryan was training on the Friday when he suffered a non-contact injury,” Town physio Matt Byard explained.

“He had a scan in Aberdeen and that showed a medial ligament problem. We took him to see a specialist in London yesterday and he has confirmed the injury.

“You can never be sure about timings with an injury like Ryan’s but I would expect him to be out for at least two months.”

Ironically, Fraser was talking up the attributes of new Australian winger Tommy Oar last week, and the former FC Utrecht man may now be in line to replace the Scot, and make his full league debut, in Saturday’s home game with Huddersfield Town.

Oar has been restricted to just one start in the Capital One Cup, the 3-0 defeat at Manchester United, and eight minutes during a substitute appearance in the 2-0 defeat at Blackburn on October 3.

However, manager Mick McCarthy joined Fraser in endorsing the Socceroos international’s ability last week, and hinted that the 23-year-old was not far away from a first start, as he looks to address a slide that has seen Town win just once in their last six league games.

“Tommy Oar’s delivery was excellent in the two games he’s featured (Manchester United and Blackburn) so I’ll have to look at all that,” said McCarthy.

Meanwhile, Huddersfield boss Chris Powell believes his side will be well prepared going into Saturday’s game in Suffolk, the Terriers having played a Manchester City XI in a recent behind-closed-doors friendly,

The side drew at City’s academy stadium as skipper Mark Hudson, striker James Vaughan and ‘keeper Joe Murphy all made returns from injury.

“We were really happy with the work-out against a strong Manchester City team that featured a few first-team players and the cream of the country’s youngsters,” reflected Powell.

“The match has definitely given me food for thought on some of our players.”