Brayford out for six months

Sheffield United defender John Brayford has been ruled out for six months due to the knee injury sustained against Swindon.

The 27-year-old will not require surgery and is hoping to return to action by the end of the year after sustaining knee ligament damage in his side's 2-1 League One play-off first-leg defeat. The Blades went on to lose 7-6 on aggregate following a 5-5 draw in the second leg and manager Nigel Clough said afterwards that Brayford's absence had been a big factor in the defeat. Clough told the club's official website: "John went to see a specialist in London earlier this week and the results were possibly the best case scenario in a serious situation because we feared that it could be up to 12 months or beyond. "Fortunately, he doesn't need an operation, he will be managed by our very capable medical team and we hope to have him firing on all cylinders again by Christmas. "John loves the club, he was gutted that he was unable to take part in the second leg at Swindon and was a major loss but our focus now turns to getting him right and back to his best later in the year." Brayford spent the second half of the 2013/14 season on loan at Bramall Lane from Derby before being signed on a permanent basis for an undisclosed fee in January this year. He has made a total of 43 appearances for the club.