![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0_Mark-Sykes.jpg\")
Mark Sykes has been key to Bristol City’s play-off push so far this season(Image: EFL)<\/p>\nMark Sykes was due to start Bristol City’s clash with QPR but withdrew during the Robins’ warm-upMark Sykes has been key to Bristol City’s play-off push so far this season(Image: EFL)<\/p>\n
Liam Manning has shed some early light on Mark Sykes’ injury after the Bristol City<\/a> winger withdrew from the Robins’ starting line-up ahead of their draw with QPR, revealing the 27-year-old has suffered a quad issue.<\/p>\n The Reds kept their place in the Championship play-off places with a 1-1 draw at Loftus Road<\/a> on Saturday afternoon, with George Earthy’s third goal of the season cancelling out Karamoko Dembele’s first-half opener.<\/p>\n Marti Cifuentes’ side dominated the opening exchanges in West London, with Dembele breaking the deadlock after 21 minutes when he rose well to head home Nicolas Madsen’s cross from the right flank. The Hoops came close to doubling their advantage but it was City who scored next with a smart interchange between Earthy and Max Bird<\/a> ending with the former slotting into the bottom right corner.<\/p>\n READ MORE: QPR 1 – 1 Bristol City live: George Earthy pulls Robins level after slow start at Loftus Road<\/a>READ MORE: Haydon Roberts on last-minute winner dreams, play-off push and ‘special’ Bristol City connection<\/a><\/p>\n While both sides had chances to win the game, neither could produce the moment of quality needed to find the winner, with the points ultimately shared. Sykes had been due to continue at right wing-back but was ultimately replaced by Yu Hirakawa<\/a> a matter of minutes before kick-off with Manning confirming the 27-year-old picked up an injury during the warm-up.<\/p>\n “Not great,” the head coach told Bristol Live<\/a> when asked how the Ireland international was in his post-match press conference. “He felt his quad before during the warm-up and that’s obviously, like I said before, when you’ve got such a small squad, you’re asking the lads to play so many minutes and naturally, you carry that risk.<\/p>\n “A disappointing one for Syksey because obviously he’s been great for us in the last month and before that. It’s not ideal making the change but that’s life and you have to get on with it.”<\/p>\n Bristol City are fighting to secure their place in the play-off places and you won’t miss a beat with our free newsletter.<\/p>\n All the latest news, views, interviews, gossip and analysis concerning the Robins, delivered straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n It’s completely free and you can sign up HERE<\/a><\/p>\n Sykes missed almost three months of action earlier this season when he suffered a hamstring issue<\/a> just a matter of minutes into the Reds’ defeat to Sheffield United<\/a> at Ashton Gate. Since returning to the starting line-up against Sheffield Wednesday in January however, the Ireland international has made the right wing-back position his own with three goals and three assists in just 14 games.<\/p>\n The 27-year-old’s recent form has helped Manning’s side propel themselves into play-off contention over the last few weeks. With just four games remaining of the regular Championship season, the Robins currently sit fifth in the table, four points clear of seventh-placed West Brom<\/a>, eighth-placed Middlesbrough and ninth-placed Millwall.<\/p>\n Join Bristol City Live’s Whatsapp community for all the biggest Bristol City stories sent straight to your phone<\/strong><\/p>\n Bristol City Live<\/a> is now on WhatsApp and we want you to join our community.<\/p>\n Through the app, we\u2019ll send the Bristol City news, live match coverage, team news, transfers, fixtures, analysis and more straight to your phone.<\/p>\n To join our community you need to already have WhatsApp. All you need to do is click this link and select \u2018Join Community\u2019.<\/a><\/p>\n No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Bristol Live<\/a> team.<\/p>\n We also treat community members to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. If you don\u2019t like our community, you can check out at any time you like.<\/p>\n To leave our community, click on the name at the top of your screen and choose \u2018Exit group\u2019.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.<\/a><\/p>\n Click here to join our WhatsApp community.<\/a><\/p>\n Although wins over the Baggies, Boro, Watford and the Lions<\/a> have left City sitting pretty at this stage, there is an awful lot still to play for over the coming weeks with crucial matches against Sunderland, Luton Town<\/a>, Leeds United and Preston North End to come. At this stage, it remains unclear if and when Sykes will be able to play a part in the remainder of the run-in, with Manning confessing it is too early to know the exact details of the injury.<\/p>\n “I have absolutely no idea,” the Reds boss replied when asked when the winger could return to the fold.<\/p>\n City are next in action on Good Friday when they welcome Regis Le Bris and Sunderland to what is set to be a sold-out Ashton Gate<\/a>. Regardless of the severity of Sykes’ injury, the winger will be in a race against time to feature against the Black Cats and over the Easter weekend as a whole.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Liam Manning points to ‘big positive’ as Bristol City keep top six spot after slow start vs QPR<\/a>READ MORE: Bristol City player ratings vs QPR as George Earthy leveller sees Robins hold onto top six spot<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mark Sykes was due to start Bristol City’s clash with QPR but withdrew during the Robins’ warm-upMark Sykes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18704,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[381,2686,748,393,4884,10583,12391,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-18703","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-bristol","9":"tag-bristol-city-fc","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-liam-manning","14":"tag-queens-park-rangers-fc","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114335286799554875","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1744487785_996_2_Liam-Manning.jpg\")
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