QUENTIN Townsend faces up to a year on the sidelines for Bromsgrove Rovers with a serious knee injury.

The central defender took a knock to his left knee with just seconds to go in Rovers' 3-1 defeat at home to Evesham United on Tuesday.

But further investigation has shown he has ruptured both his lateral and cruciate ligaments and is likely to miss the rest of the season.

Townsend, who injured medial ligaments in the same knee while with Redditch last season, has only played five games for the Victoria Ground club since leaving Cinderford.

He has been one of Rovers' top performers of late and his impact will be hugely missed.

Boss Joe Jackson said: "Since he's joined he has been massive for us. Generally speaking our form has been based on us being difficult to break down."

But the immediate concern for Jackson is getting his side back on track after Tuesday's slip up against Evesham, only Rovers' second league defeat so far.

The task starts tomorrow when Rovers, down to 12th in the table, entertain Marlow in Southern League Division One West (3pm).

Jackson, due to sign his son Nathan last night, added: "We had gone on a decent run and our performance against Mangotsfield on Saturday gave me great optimism but we were brought down to earth on Tuesday. To bounce back is going to be the order of the day."