Bolton Wanderers striker Victor Adeboyejo was supposed to play in a Bristol Street Motors Trophy group match at Barrow on Tuesday.
But because of discomfort in his ribs and back, he had to leave the squad.
Due to injury and the international break, manager Ian Evatt, who was already without first team players, stated that the pain seemed to have been brought on by a “pretty hefty sneeze”.
“It’s true that Victor had a bad back ailment, but a sneeze actually triggered it,” he said to The News.
From then, Adeboyejo, 26, underwent a scan.
“He felt a bit of a crack in between his ribs and we are hopeful it is just a cartilage or muscular issue but until we have a good look at the scan we won’t know,” Evatt added.
The coach said, “It happened after a challenge during a game against Charlton.”
“At the moment, he was alright, but he sneezed quite forcefully. Victor is a strong young man; even his sneezes have strength.
When players start being hurt from sneezing, I’ll need to take a close look at myself.
With four points from their first four games of the season, Bolton is ranked eighteenth in League One.