The Bermuda Football Association is still planning on having Nahki Wells available for the World Cup qualifiers against Bahamas despite his almost month-long injury lay-off.

The national team fly to Nassau on Sunday for the first leg next Wednesday, with the return game at the National Sports Centre next Sunday.

Wells missed his fifth consecutive Sky Bet Championship game for Huddersfield Town tonight, as his club side conceded a last-gasp equaliser at home to Norwich City to draw 2-2.

He is still recovering from the sternoclavicular-joint injury he sustained in a head-on collision with Adam Federici, the Reading goalkeeper, on February 24, and Huddersfield’s medical specialist had advised the club that Wells should not take contact until Saturday’s home game with Fulham.

Although theoretically possible for Wells to play immediately, the Fulham game, should he play, would be his first in almost a month, and there would undoubtedly be questions raised about his match fitness and sharpness.

However, Richard Todd, the BFA’s national academy director, does not believe that Wells’s performance will be unduly affected by missing five games.

“We are still planning for him to take part in the World Cup qualifiers at this point,” Todd said.

“We do not feel that he will be impacted that greatly in form having missed these matches.”

Huddersfield have already expressed their hope that Wells will be available for Bermuda, and it may even suit their purposes for him to be involved. The Championship side, who are 17th and are ten points above the relegation zone, have lacked firepower in his absence.

The qualifiers would give the striker some much-needed game time ahead of his side’s league run-in.

“We will have dialogue with Huddersfield closer to the weekend and prior to departure to discuss any concerns they may have with his involvement,” Todd said.

“Huddersfield will probably be happy for him to get match time in prior to the resumption of the schedule following the international break.”

Wells had been tipped to captain the side, and Todd said that this was something the coaches would discuss, along with a replacement, should it become necessary. Antwan Russell, the Robin Hood striker, is on the standby list, and given his performances in the two warm-up matches against Grenada would seem the most likely replacement.

While losing Wells would be a blow, Todd said the Bermuda squad’s morale was good and the side was not “set up to play around individual players and individual performances.”

“The professional players coming in should all know that what is important is how they perform on the field — whether you play at White Hart Lane or White Hill.

“If the group has a strong team spirit and individual egos do not cause disruption — they will play good football and the people of Bermuda will get behind them 100 per cent.”