Northampton Town's Tadhg Purcell is out for season

Purcell has yet to score since joining the Cobblers in the summer

Northampton have suffered a major blow after striker Tadhg Purcell was ruled out for the rest of this season with a major knee injury.

The 25-year-old has ruptured his cruciate and lateral knee ligaments.

And in a further setback, midfielder Ryan Gilligan will be out for three months as he must undergo surgery to remove extra bone growing on an ankle.

And 34-year-old left-back Marcus Hall will be missing for four weeks because of a pulled hamstring.

Full-back John Johnson should recover from a groin injury to feature against Aldershot on Saturday.

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Boss Ian Sampson told the club's website he has the finances to find replacements: "I need some players in and the [League] Cup run has give me a bit of money to spend on wages.

"With Tadhg's injury I now need to bring in two strikers, whether that is on loan or free agents.

"There are funds available for wages and we will be trying really hard to get a couple of strikers in over the weekend or so.

"I've got people in mind but I couldn't move for them before because I didn't have the funds."