FA Cup: Tomlin back but Hancox ruled out for Crawley

The Birmingham City defender extended his loan at the Checkatrade.com Stadium for a second month this week.

But the Blues have not given permission for Hancox to play, not wantingb him to become cup-tied.

However three other loanees, Josh Yorwerth, Christian Scales and Rhys Murphy are all available.

Central defender Joe McNerney suffered a set-back to his recovery from a knee injury and had to come off from Reds’ friendly against Portsmouth on Tuesday and will not feature on Saturday.

Manager Mark Yates said: “He’s had a bit of a set-back. We are at a bit of a loss. He needs to go back to see the consultant. The stability of the knee is not right.

“He did a week, ten days training. We’d designed a programme for him to complete that he’d done and felt fine.

“He played 35 minutes and the pain was too much but it didn’t feel right and we took him off immediately.

“It’s almost back to square-one. We are no nearer to getting him back. We are trying to get to the bottom of it.”

Another long-term injury victim, Gavin Tomlin came through the game without a problem and is contention for a place on the bench.

“Gav came through really well. He kept plugging away and looked bright today in training. I don’t know if he’ll’ start but he’ll be in and around the squad.”

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