Murdock ruled out following surgery

Pablo Mills and Ian Sharps have looked impressive in the absence of the Northern Irish International, who may not walk straight back into the side on his return.

Physio Denis Circuit told the official site: "Colin has had three separate injuries all in the same area, we treated one two weeks ago but last night he had to have a hernia operation.

"Everything went well so we are hoping that it will solve at least 95 per cent of his problem. We would expect him to be out of action for a maximum of four weeks before he is back in full training. It's normally a straight forward recovery from this and that would be the latest we would expect him back.

"But then he will be behind the rest of the squad although in his favour is that he had most of the pre-season under his belt so hopefully he will progress well and he should be back in training in early September."

Meanwhile, midfielder Justin Cochrane will step up his recovery from injury in the next fortnight as he aims to make a reserve appearance before the end of the month.