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Northampton Town striker Alex Nicholls has undergone surgery on the double leg break he suffered in Saturday's 2-0 win over Port Vale.

He broke his tibia and fibula bones in a challenge with Vale's John McCombe.

Nicholls, 24, had a nail inserted into his tibia on Saturday night, with the process described as "successful", and a skin graft operation on Monday.

Chairman David Cardoza "It's looking like four to six months [out].

"You won't see him again this season but we're just hoping for a speedy recovery," he added.

Nicholls has scored eight goals this season and was injured in scoring the opener against Port Vale.

He "Just recovering from my second operation. Overwhelmed with the calls/messages/tweets, I can't thank you all enough. Feeling very tired at the moment, will speak to you all soon."

Cardoza said manager Aidy Boothroyd is looking at new recruits to cover the injury crisis of losing David Artell, John Johnson, Luke Guttridge, Ben Harding, Chris Hackett and now Alex Nicholls, who arrived at Sixfields from Walsall in the summer.

But the chairman also admits they are over budget this season.

"We're looking to bring one or two in anyway but this'll give Louis Moult a chance," said Cardoza. "Within the club, we're really excited about him.

"Part of my problem is that we're over budget anyway, so I'm trying to deal with that as well as having to bring loan players in.

"There were one or two players that probably should've gone that didn't, and that's the nature of football.

"But we've got to stay with the pack and give it a go. We're still going to be bringing players in."