Nottingham Forest injury state of play ahead of crunch Peterborough United clash

The Championship season is reaching the business end, with Nottingham Forest looking to secure a top-six finish.

The Reds' promotion dream remains very much alive as they head into their final five games. Saturday sees them make the trip to struggling Peterborough United, where they will want to make it back-to-back wins after beating West Bromwich Albion on Monday.

Defender Steve Cook made his comeback from a spell on the sidelines against the Baggies, but boss Steve Cooper does have other injury concerns. Here's a look at the state of play ahead of Forest's clash at London Road.

Groin.

The left-back was forced off towards the end of the first half in the rout over Reading last month, with the expectation he would be sidelined for about six weeks. It is Lowe’s second spell out of action this season with a groin issue, after he missed two months towards the end of last year, but this is a "slightly different" injury.

“It’s the same side for Max, but it’s a slightly different injury. It’s not like a complete recurrence of the one before," the Welshman said, prior to facing QPR.

Cook suffered his ankle injury in the same match as Lowe, and was also expected to be ruled out for six weeks. Cooper recently said: "Max is going to be a little bit slower than Cookie, as we know."

And ahead of Saturday's trip to Peterborough, he said: “Max is nowhere near playing. Mind you, we’ve only got two weeks left. But I think I saw him on the grass today doing some light running.

“Max is progressing. He’s had bad luck, to be fair. It’s not a nice situation for him, because he was doing so well for us on both occasions, and obviously having the set-backs. For him, personally, I’m sure at some stage he’ll come back stronger.”

Hamstring.

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