MARTIN Weir looks almost certain to miss Worcester City's crucial Dr Martens League Premier Division game at Burton Albion tomorrow.

The former Kidderminster Harriers defender, who has played a key role in City's recent revival, had to come off in the early stages of Saturday's 4-3 home defeat against Newport with a rib injury.

The injury has been troubling him ever since the home win over Clevedon last month, and manager John Barton said: "You could see in the first 10-15 minutes on Saturday that he was short on his heading situations."

City's second successive defeat leaves them one place outside the relegation zone and puts added onus on tomorrow's game at high-flying Burton.

Barton said: "This was a tough three-game spell for us and up to now we haven't fared too good. We could have got something from both games and haven't done, and it puts greater weight on tomorrow night now.

"But it wasn't a bad performance on Saturday -- we just didn't do enough of the things well that help you win football matches."

n City v Newport match report -- P14.