IAN Cox has been ruled out for the rest of the season to hand Burnley's promotion hopes a major blow.

Cox damaged his wrist in Monday's 3-2 win at Brentford, which lifted the Clarets to third place in the table.

And the club's worst fears were realised when an X-ray yesterday revealed a fracture and a dislocation.

The central defender, outstanding since his £500,000 move from Bournemouth in Feburary, was today due to undergo surgery to have the bone pinned and will be out of football for three months.

"It's terrible news, more for the lad because he's been playing exceptionally well," said manager Stan Ternent.

"Things have conspired against us but we have to win and see if we can get up for Coxy."

Cox will miss Saturday's game against Cambridge and the last-day trip to Scunthorpe, when Burnley could clinch automatic promotion if they take six points from those two games and Wigan and Gillingham don't win their remaining fixtures. But should the Clarets end up in the play-offs, the elegant centre-back will have to sit those out as well.

The loss of Cox to a freak injury, which occured when his hand was bent back by the force of a fiercely struck shot near the end of the game at Griffin Park, is desperately unlucky for Burnley.

His ability and extra pace at the back have been major factors in the side's climb to third place in the table.

And even though Ternent has defensive options open to him, the manager admitted: "There are key players in the squad and he's one of them."

Nevertheless, promotion fever continues to gather momentum at Turf Moor, where all 2,092 tickets for the game at Scunthorpe were snapped up inside a couple of hours yesterday morning.

Season-ticket holders with first bite at the cherry queued right up Brunshaw Road but not all were lucky as the allocation for the Glanford Park clash on Saturday week soon disappeared.

However, fans wishing to see the game may not be disappointed as the club is considering showing the potentially make-or-break fixture on a big screen at Turf Moor, as reported on Saturday.

A final decision will be taken after this weekend's fixtures when a win over Cambridge would mean Burnley's automatic promotion hopes going down to the last day, regardless of results elsewhere.

The Clarets reserves finish their Pontins League campaign with a trip to the Hawthorns to take on West Bromwich Albion tonight (kick-off 7pm).