WARREN COVER BID UNLIKELY

The Scottish left-back, stretchered off in the closing moments of Tuesday night's win at Torquay, is expected to be out of action for around four weeks after damaging ankle ligaments.

And with no other recognised left-sided players at the club, the Cherries boss realises that while a loan signing would be ideal, it is decidedly unlikely amid the ongoing financial difficulty at Dean Court.

Asked if he would ideally like to bring in a left-back on loan, O'Driscoll told the Daily Echo: "Ideally, I'd like to bring three or four players in but we don't live in an ideal world. In the meantime, we have to get on with what we've got.

"Getting players depends on whether there is finance available and whether there is anybody who can come in and go straight into our first team.

"We have a lot of players at other clubs who may be able to come in, but it is whether we can afford them and often the clubs are not keen to send players out on loan."

"Stephen Purches and Shaun Maher are the only two defenders we have got to come in but neither of them are left-footed. We kept Narada here for three years but we had to let him go to further his career and we haven't had any proper cover in that position since.

"We have got people who can play there if need be or we can change the system, but I am a big believer in putting square pegs in square holes so we will have to wait and see.

"But we knew we would struggle if we had a few injuries at the start of the season so it is no real surprise.

"Warren has been playing extremely well and he was playing very well against Torquay but it is just one of those things, unfortunately.

"It was a nasty one but at least there was no malicious intent from Tony Bedeau."

Cummings himself admitted he thought the ankle had been broken as he writhed in agony on the Plainmoor turf. The medical crew who attended the player were also taking every precaution as they cut the 24-year-old's sock away to check on the injury and stabilise him.

Speaking from his home yesterday, Cummings said: "I thought I'd broken it because I heard a noise and the pain was excruciating.

"I went to try and block the ball but he got his shot away and having missed the block it meant I took all of his weight on my ankle and it turned on the outside. It was horrible.

"It swelled up a lot on Tuesday night but it has gone down quite a bit.

"I've had ice on it for most of the time since and the bruise has just started to come out.

"It is in an air cast at the moment but it is definitely better than I thought it was going to be when I first did it."

After a series of checks with physio Jim Marshall, the diagnosis was the ankle is not broken and that the ligaments had not been ruptured.

Marshall said: "The joint was stable and we decided we didn't need to scan it.

"Warren has sustained enough damage to warrant him being out for the next month but thankfully it as not as serious as it could have been."

Cummings, who has been in fine form this season, is disappointed to be sidelined for the next few games at least. While he is already keen to get back as quickly as possible, he believes his replacement will be more than capable of sustaining Cherries' recent run of results.

He said: "Personally, it is a blow and I am gutted that I'll be missing the next few games.

"But the lads will be fine without me - we've been playing really well and whoever comes in will do a good job.

"Jim has said that we are probably looking at around a month, which is not as bad as it could have been. But it is difficult to tell until the swelling is reduced.

"We'll be able to get a more accurate assessment when the swelling goes down a bit. I didn't need an X-ray because I could get some movement in it and Jim thought a scan wasn't required.

"I'm confident I can get back in a month but until it settles down, you can't really make a proper judgement on it.

"I've managed to put some weight on it and I'm hoping I'll be allowed to travel with the boys to Oldham on Saturday to cheer them on."