Sam Gallagher has hopefully saved himself from a hamstring injury by coming off early in his comeback game against Plymouth – but Stoke City have been dealt a blow with news that Eric Bocat will be missing for a few weeks.

Gallagher was brought in by new manager Mark Robins to start his first game since October but he signalled to the physios just after half-time.

The 29-year-old forward has only been able to start three times since his summer move from Blackburn Rovers, frustrated by near back-to-back calf and hamstring problems, but Robins hopes that this precautionary move has prevented damage this time.

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Robins said: “Sam felt his hamstrings, I think bilaterally. I think he’s just taken himself out of the firing line a little bit and if he’s done that at the right time, brilliant, he’s saved himself and it’s just tiredness, fatigue. If he’s starting to understand his body like that then great. It means we can really start to build him up without getting him injured.

“I wanted to keep him on for an hour. I played him because I wanted to try to get after them. I think he’s got the power and the pace and the know-how to be able to score and almost did at times. We got him into decent positions but we were reaching for things, over-reaching and stretching when we were moving the ball but other than that, if you can’t win, don’t lose.”

Bocat pulled out of Stoke’s starting XI in the warm-up to the Sunderland game last weekend.

Robins said: “Eric picked up an injury, a soleus injury, and he’ll be out for a little while, a little while being a few weeks.”

Enda Stevens, back on the bench in the last week, is still building up fitness and Lynden Gooch has filled in at left-back.

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