Michael Duff revealed after Wycombe Wanderers’ away victory over Barnsley last Tuesday night that 29-year-old centre-back, Anders Hagelskjaer faces a spell of around eight weeks on the side-line after suffering an injury against Burton Albion last Saturday when Will Norris attempted to clear a long ball from Burton and managed to take out the attacker and his own defender, earning a yellow card for his troubles.

The Dane was spotted leaving Adams Park on crutches after the match and will be seeing a specialist as he begins his rehab, but it would be fair to say that he won’t be seen again this season, unfortunately.

Just four days later, Wanderers were hit with another devastating blow, as Hagelskjaer’s ever-reliable centre-back partner, Dan Casey, was forced off in the second half of Wycombe’s 3-2 defeat at Bolton Wanderers, which coincided with the Blues completely capitulating.

The former Motherwell captain’s initial prognosis indicated that he’d pulled a hamstring, which is obviously a huge concern for the Chairboys, as this could spell multiple weeks on the sidelines.

Despite this nasty setback, Wycombe are still looking to go on and push for the play-offs during the last 10 matches of the 2025/26 league campaign, but will injuries to their starting centre-back duo throw a real spanner in the works, or do Wanderers now have the power and depth to continue business as usual?

The backline has become something that Duff rarely changes now, as he seems to find his best formula for keeping goals out of the net, with the back four consisting of Dan Harvie and Jack Grimmer in the left and right fullback positions respectively, with Hagelskjaer and Casey more often than not being the centre back partnership in the League.

During his first few games in charge, Duff sometimes used a back three consisting of Grimmer, Connor Taylor and Taylor Allen as centre-backs with Harvie and Fin Back as wing-backs/wide midfielders, depending on when Wycombe were in and out of possession.

However, after Allen picked up an injury in October and Back later joining him on the sidelines, Duff switched to the back four that we’ve all come to be familiar with, rarely changing as of recently but that’s not to say he didn’t experiment at first, Taylor often seen in that back line until he was dropped after a few poor games.

More recently, on the visit to Oakwell on Tuesday night, Duff opted for the partnership of Allen and Casey, and kept a clean sheet, limiting Barnsley to a total of only four shots, none of those on target during the entire 90 minutes.

That back four remains unchanged for Wycombe’s visit to Bolton Wanderers on the weekend, but when the Irishman was forced off early in the second-half, Duff was left with no other option than to bring on the out-of-favour Taylor, and this change was unfortunately part of the Chairboys’ undoing that afternoon.

Duff tends to prefer playing out from the back, and would most likely prefer someone comfortable doing that, especially under pressure when under a press. Hagelskjaer is in the 90th percentile for forward passes. He has also only been dispossessed a total of three times. Meanwhile, his (most likely) replacement, Allen, has been dispossessed seven times, but has sometimes started as a left back.

The other option that Duff has in his ranks would be Taylor, who saw five minutes against Barnsley on Tuesday to see the game out, and then just over 40 minutes on Saturday at Bolton. However, he has seen a lot less game time than the other name mentioned and is usually brought on during the last ten or so minutes of a match.

Taylor’s time at Adams Park so far has been rather sub-par, as he hasn’t really suited the way Wanderers want to play, looking uncomfortable with the ball at his feet, and not particularly convincing defensively either.

Whilst he has an excellent pass completion rate of 89.9%, the highest in the squad, Wycombe have only kept three clean sheets in the 22 matches he’s played in League One this season, in comparison to nine shutouts in 25 games for the other right-footed centre-back in Casey.

Skipper Grimmer is also capable of playing centre-back, and with Wycombe’s first-choice right-footed option now injured and Taylor proving rather unreliable, the Scot could be moved into the centre of the backline, whilst Niall Huggins fills the void left at right-back.

However, this will be a last resort for Duff, as Grimmer is far better suited to playing on the right flank.

Another option is to recall Declan Skura from his loan spell at National League side Yeovil Town. The 23-year-old has been a firm fixture for the Glovers since his arrival last month, netting his first goal for the club in a 2-0 victory over Tamworth last week.

The development squad graduate made his break into Wycombe’s first team last season, but failed to maintain his spot in the squad following the appointment of Mike Dodds, which subsequently saw him make just two appearances for his parent club this term, before he headed to Somerset in February.

Skura has always been highly-rated at Adams Park, often impressing when he’s featured for the club. However, a lack of consistent game time has been his downfall over the past 12 months, and now that he’s finding regular minutes out on loan, it’s highly unlikely Wycombe would want to disturb that, unless they fully believe he’s ready to jump up two divisions and start week-in-week-out.

A final option for Duff to explore, should Casey’s injury curtail his season, is dipping into the free agent market.

This is probably the least likely scenario to happen, but we’ve seen this kind of thing happen in the past. Back in 2023, Wanderers moved to sign Jordan Willis, who was unattached, amid injury problems in the defensive unit.

Whilst this is less than ideal, throwing a player into the mix who hasn’t played in a long time for whatever reason, once they get up to speed, Wycombe could reap the rewards from their gamble.

But who is currently available that Wanderers could sign to plug the gaps in their defence?

The most obvious choice is former Oxford United centre-back Jordan Thorniley, who terminated his contract with the Championship club in early February. The 29-year-old spent the first half of the season on loan with fellow League One side Northampton Town, where he made 18 league appearances, before his time at the club was cut short due to injury.

Thorniley returned to Oxford to complete rehabilitation for his injury, and then left the club the following month by means of mutual termination, which allows him to find a new club now that the transfer window has shut.

Whilst he may not be the most exciting option, you can’t help but feel this would be a sensible move from Wycombe, as Thorniley brings a wealth of Championship and League One experience, and has been a part of a play-off winning squad at Oxford, which is exactly what the Chairboys are hoping to be come May.

This deal would, of course, come with its risks, as the defender hasn’t seen much game time since the turn of the year due to injury, but even as a rotation option for the likes of Taylor or Allen, he would definitely bring some much-needed experience to the Wanderers backline.