CROCKED defender Wayne Thomas will miss the final eight games of Burnley's Championship season with a broken foot.

Thomas, who has already had one lengthy lay off this season with a cruciate knee injury, fractured a metatarsal bone in his right foot while captaining the Clarets during the weekend defeat to former club Stoke City.

The stricken centre back fought through the pain barrier to finish the game as an emergency striker as the Clarets battled in vain to salvage a point from the Britannia Stadium.

But manager Steve Cotterill's worst fears were confirmed last night when Thomas was ruled out until next season following his latest setback.

Cotterill said: "We've now lost Wayne for the rest of the season. He has fractured the second metatarsal in his foot and it's a massive blow after the partnership he had struck up with Michael Duff, which we thought had a lot of promise.

"We're really, really disappointed to have lost Wayne and it probably sums up our luck this season.

"It's been as bad for us as it has for Wayne.

"It's been really, really stop-start and we're so disappointed."

The news brings to an end a deeply frustrating first season at Turf Moor for Thomas, who made a miraculous recovery from a bad knee injury sustained at Reading in August.

The 25-year-old returned in December before picking up a second red card of the season and a two-match suspension at Ipswich in February.