Cardiff City Rock Hudson Faces 4-6 Week Lay-Off

Cardiff City's towering defender Mark Hudson has suffered a grade 2 tear to his knee ligaments after injuring himself in the 3-3 draw with Millwall on Saturday. Scans have revealed the extent of the injury, and he will probably miss the rest of the season with a hectic April to come.

Hudson has been in great form this season and won over the majority of fans who were not impressed with his form last year. During this campaign he has been strong, determined and cut out the mistakes that saw him exposed during his first season - a much improved, and crucial player for Cardiff City.

A minimum four week rehabilitation period will be needed, and following that he will not be ready to step straight in. Ever present until now, that resembles a massive blow to Cardiff City - not least because his parternship with Dekel Keinan had looked by far the stablest of he campaign.

Gabor Gyepes replaced Hudson on Saturday, when the score was still 0-0! It was the Hungarian who conceded a penalty for a push on Steve Morison and he was publically blamed (ance again) by Dave Jones following the game - something that will not help his confidence.

Darcy Blake or Kevin McNaughton are alternatives in central defence but neither is naturally suited to the role and McNaughton is surely needed on the left after replacing the hapless Lee Naylor and finally shoring up our obvious weakness on that side.

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