SIMON Eastwood has suffered a setback in his recovery from injury in the latest blow for Oxford United.

The influential goalkeeper has been out for a month after dislocating the little finger of his right hand.

At the time he was told it would take six weeks to heal, but Karl Robinson believes it could still be a month and a half before Eastwood can return.

The U’s boss said: “We’ve had a setback with him.

“He’s maybe a little behind schedule in some ways, but he’s in good spirits.

“Because it’s his hand at least he can still do footwork and running and everything else.

“He’s training, just not fully.”

Eastwood’s injury saw United sign Jonathan Mitchell on loan from Derby County.

The 23-year-old’s distribution has come in for some criticism, while he also conceded a penalty for what proved to be the winner in Sunday’s 2-1 defeat to Coventry City.

In the aftermath, Robinson would not be drawn on whether he was considering bringing in Scott Shearer or Jack Stevens, but the head coach wants to see an improvement.

He said: “I need to watch the game back properly before I make that assessment.

“But it’s got to be better. The kicking’s got to be better.”

There has been some good news from the treatment room about Samir Carruthers.

The Sheffield United loanee picked up a knee injury on the opening day of the season, but Robinson said: “He did his first run on Sunday. He’s four weeks away, Easty’s six”

That would put Carruthers on target with the initial assessment that he would be sidelined for two months.

The U’s will have Gavin Whyte available again this weekend after international duty, but Jamie Hanson will miss the trip to Wycombe Wanderers as he completes a three-game suspension.

Robinson, who has also had Rob Hall ruled out for the season, said: “We’re dodging bullets at the moment rather than firing them and that’s a difficult place to be.

“Fans will be frustrated, but so are we.

“There’s a lot of work to be done and a lot more success still to be had here.

“We’ve just got to make sure we keep dodging these bullets for a short period of time and when we’ve done that we’ll be in a much better place.”