IPSWICH were today rocked by the news that new boy Jason De Vos is suffering from a stress fracture of the tibia.The news was confirmed by the Canadian Soccer Association and the big defender is on his way back to England.

IPSWICH were today rocked by the news that new boy Jason De Vos is suffering from a stress fracture of the tibia.

The news was confirmed by the Canadian Soccer Association and the big defender is on his way back to England.

De Vos, 30, jetted across the Atlantic after playing in the 3-2 defeat at Derby on Saturday and intended to lead his country in tomorrow night's World Cup qualifier against Guatemala in Vancouver.

But he collapsed in training and X-rays revealed the stress fracture, which could see him sidelined for several weeks.

Ipswich boss Joe Royle said: “This is obviously a blow, but we will know a lot more once we get Jason back and our medical people have a look at him.

“He will be going for a scan and we will be governed by what the specialist says. He might advise Jason to rest for two weeks or as long as a month.

“On the other hand, he has already played two games with this injury and I have known cases of players playing through an injury of this type and only realising they had it when they are X-rayed to do with another problem.

“We were confident there was no break, but we are now being told from Canada that he has a very small stress fracture of the tibia just below the knee.”

De Vos has been a commanding figure at the heart of the Town defence this season, following a summer move from Wigan on a Bosman free transfer.

He has stood in as captain for the injured Jim Magilton and now Ipswich face the prospect of being without both experienced players when Cardiff are the visitors to Portman Road on Saturday.

De Vos was injured towards the end of the pre-season friendly against Osasuna and was rated doubtful for the opening-day clash with Gillingham.

But not only did he turn out on that occasion, he was also in his usual place for the visits to Nottingham Forest and Derby.

Royle added: “Jason has been brave and we are grateful to him for playing, but he has not quite been himself recently.

“Once he is back here we will assess the situation and go from there.”

Magilton, meanwhile, will not be turning out in tonight's Portman Road reserve clash with Crystal Palace (kick-off 7pm).

A scan showed that the tear in his thigh muscle, which has seen him miss all three of Town's league games, has improved.

Royle said: “Jim will step up his training this week and we will have a look at him on Friday with a view to Saturday's game against Cardiff.”

Senior stars Fabian Wilnis, Pablo Counago and Shefki Kuqi will all be in action for the reserves tonight.

With second choice keeper Lewis Price on international duty with the Welsh Under-21 team, Irish youngster Shane Supple will be in goal.

First team hopefuls Scott Barron, Scott Mitchell and Antonio Murray will also be involved and Royle added: “They will hopefully be putting their best foot forward.”

Darren Bent, Ian Westlake and Matt Richards are in the England Under-21 squad for tonight's friendly clash with Ukraine at the Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough.