ORIENT boss Martin Ling has been rocked by the news that striker Jabo Ibehre faces another spell on the sidelines.

The 24-year-old frontman, who missed the early part of the season with an ankle injury had looked to be back to his best before picking up a similar knock in the match against Oldham on Saturday.

Ibehre is now almost certainly out of the match against Swindon tomorrow (Tuesday), and will also be a major doubt for Saturday's FA Cup visit of Bristol Rovers.

A frustrated Ling said: "It is a major blow to see Jabo back on the treatment table again. Just when the lad looks set to go on a good run he suffers another injury.

"He had only just joined the party so to speak after being out injured at the start of the season and had been showing signs of the player we all know he can be.

"Jabo did leave the ground on crutches on Saturday, but that is always a precautionary measure with injuries like this. I don't expect him to be fit for Swindon though and he will be a major doubt for Saturday, although we will probably know more about how serious the injury is as the week progresses.

"I do feel sorry for the lad and we will certainly miss him because he has add a real physical threat to our forward line."

The O's will still be without defender Clayton Fortune (thigh) and midfielder Sean Thornton (suspended) for the trip to the County Ground. Central defenders Alton Thelwell (knee) and Tamika Mkandawire (dead leg) didn't train today, but should be fit enough to start.

And manager Ling will be hoping the pair help the O's build on Saturday's solid 1-0 win over the Latics at his former club.

He added: "It was good to get a cleansheet on Saturday after the goals we have been shipping in lately and was just rewards for the hard work we have been putting in defensively on the training ground.

"I know some people think I'm only worried about the attacking side of the game, but that is rubbish because myself and Dean Smith work very hard on our defending with the players.

"Hopefully now we can get back to how solid we were looking at the start of the season, and I'm sure it would be a great boost for the defence if we could keep consecutive cleansheets.

"It will be a difficult game and we will need to be at our best to come away with the points. I know they have had a couple of blips lately including Saturday's defeat against Doncaster, but we found out the other week what a good side they are so I won't read too much into things.

"And after a good start to the season they won't want to start falling away further now.

"We do have the incentive of knowing that a win could send us back top as Carlisle face a tough game at Luton, and so I'm sure the players will be up for it."