Doncaster Rovers youngster Bobby Faulkner suffers broken jaw on loan at Worksop Town

Centre-back Faulkner was featuring in his second game on loan at the eighth-tier side on Tuesday when he was forced off after suffering a facial injury in their Sheffield & Hallamshire County Cup. match against Hemsworth Miners Welfare.

The 18-year-old has since undergone surgery on a fractured jaw.

Doncaster boss Danny Schofield said: “It was quite serious with Bobby. The tackle was very innocuous, there was nothing malicious in it.

"Bobby actually went in for a slide tackle and as he was sliding in the player fell over and into Bobby, but going at speed, so the knee caught him in his face.

"He’s fractured his jaw and lost a few teeth, so he underwent surgery yesterday (Wednesday).”

Rovers winger Tavonga Kuleya is also on loan at Worksop and opened the scoring in the match, which finished 3-2 to Hemsworth.

Norton-born Faulkner won praise following his ‘baptism of fire’ Tigers debut and has largely held his own in his 12 appearances for Rovers this term.

Schofield said: “He’s going to be on the sidelines for a while, it’s very unfortunate for Bobby.

"But he’s a strong enough lad, both physically and mentally, so he will overcome this."

Schofield was unable to provide an exact timescale for Faulkner’s return.

Joseph Olowu, his central defensive colleague at Doncaster, previously spent six weeks sidelined with a fractured jaw and is set for at least another six weeks out after suffering a recurrence of the injury.

Faulkner had been due to spend a month with Worksop, who are top of the Northern Premier League East, before potentially making another temporary move higher up the football pyramid.

But his short-term future is now unclear.

On what the future could hold for Faulkner, Schofield said: “It’s difficult to say. As a coach I always find it difficult to really evaluate where a player with potential could get to and over what period of time.

"Bobby is definitely in that period where he is developing as a player. We will see how he progresses over his time at Worksop, although he is going to be out for a few weeks.

"Then we will see what the next stage is for Bobby.”