Calderwood explains Hammond absence and why he's unlikely to play for Cobblers

The 21-year-old midfielder, joined Northampton from Forest at the end of the January transfer window, featured as a late substitute in February’s EFL Trophy win at AFC Wimbledon, but he’s not played any minutes in the league and hasn’t even been on the bench.

Cobblers do have an option to buy Hammond permanently at the end of the season – as they do with his Forest team-mate Kyle McAdam – and interim manager Colin Calderwood did confirm earlier this month that he was hoping to give him some minutes before the end of the campaign.

However, speaking on Tuesday afternoon, Calderwood said: "It’s highly unlikely he’ll play this season. He’s taken a knock unfortunately and, because of that, he will miss a period of time, certainly Saturday and probably beyond that. It’s very unfortunate for him and it’s a big shame.

"We have seen him in training and ideally we’d have wanted to get him some game-time before the end of the season so he could have the best chance to show us what he’s got. But as we move forward with Ben, it’s one that we will have conversations on.”

Asked how it impacts the club’s option to sign him permanently, Calderwood added: "It might end up a bit like some of the boys who came in and did pre-season with us. That might be an option but we’ll have to take counsel from the new manager and make him aware of what’s Ben has done with us and what the possibilities might be. It’s just really unfortunate timing for him to take this knock.”