Nottingham Forest to continue monitoring health of Cambridge United loanee Esapa Osong

It remains to be seen if Esapa Osong is able to continue his loan spell at Cambridge United.

Since joining the U’s during the January transfer window, the young forward has made two appearances as a substitute.

He duly missed the 1-1 draw at Lincoln City last weekend with what was believed to be a chest infection, but he has shown little signs of improvement in his recovery and he has now returned to his parent club Nottingham Forest, who will monitor the 20-year-old’s situation for the next couple of weeks.

Cambridge head coach Garry Monk said: “He’s had some tests because he was getting progressively worse and it happened quite quick. It’s a bit more serious than we first thought in terms of a chest infection.

“At this moment in time Forest will keep him with them to monitor him. Our main thought is he’s a young lad – health is the most important thing.

“They’ll monitor him and see how he progresses over the next couple of weeks and then we’ll see whether he can rejoin us or not. The most important bit is his health.

“Hopefully he’ll be fine and he can rejoin us but we won’t know that for a couple of weeks.”

Meanwhile, Monk also confirmed that defender Danny Andrew will miss the next four to six weeks with a grade 2 tear of his calf, which he suffered during the warm-up before Tuesday night’s 4-0 defeat at Birmingham City.

In more positive news, Dom Ballard has returned to training after a knock to his knee and he is set to be in the squad for Saturday’s lunchtime clash against Exeter City at the Cledara Abbey Stadium.