SOUTHEND United winger Harry Bunn looks set to miss Saturday’s clash with Rochdale at Roots Hall.

Bunn, who is on loan at Blues from Bury, suffered a thigh problem during a 2-0 defeat at Portsmouth at the start of the month.

And the 26-year-old - who had to sit out last weekend’s 3-0 win against Accrington Stanley - is unlikely to return against Rochdale.

“Saturday will come too early for Harry Bunn but hopefully he will be back for the Christmas period,” confirmed Shrimpers boss Chris Powell.

“We thought it was a dead leg to begin with but it’s a little bit worse.

“But he’s working well now and in the end it wasn’t as bad as we thought.

“I’m hoping he will be available for Oxford on Boxing Day or Coventry just after that but we’ll see.

“You never want to put a time limit on an injury really.”

However, defender Michael Turner is pushing for a place after a full week of training behind him.

Turner picked up a hamstring problem against Portsmouth and was on the bench for the win against Accrington Stanley despite not having trained in the build up to the game.

But the centre-back is now back to full-fitness.

“Michael’s been training this week which is good,” said Powell.

“He didn’t train at all last week but he passed a fitness test on Saturday morning so I put him on the bench because I thought his experience might be needed but luckily we didn’t need to use him. We had a number of younger players in the squad as well and they will be again.”