Caretaker boss is left to make up numbers (From Worcester News)

Caretaker boss is left to make up numbers

6:30pm Thursday 4th February 2010

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WORCESTER City are facing up to the possibility of being without three players for Saturday’s trip to Havant and Waterlooville.

Midfielder Matt Birley and striker Marc McGregor are both major doubts for the visit to Westleigh Park, while forward Matt Dinsmore is unavailable as he steps up his bid to earn a scholarship in the United States.

Caretaker manager Carl Heeley is due to assess the fitness of Birley and McGregor at training tonight but expects them to be struggling.

McGregor has a tight hamstring after hobbling out of Monday’s 1-0 FA Trophy defeat to Kidderminster Harriers, while Birley has a knee problem and is rated less likely to be involved than McGregor.

Dinsmore’s enforced absence means the City boss could be restricted to 15 players and may end up naming himself among the substitutes.

McGregor was the only one of the trio who started against Harriers and his place could be taken by Mark Clyde after the assistant player-manager replaced him on Monday.

“I will be one short because I have only got 18 players,” Heeley said. “That’s not too much of an issue and there’s not much I can do about it.”

Bringing in cover is not an option as the manager says players will have to leave before new faces can be brought in, such is the state of City’s finances.

Those coffers were swelled by around £10,000 against Harriers and, despite defeat to their county rivals, City will buoyed by their performance.

Heeley has already demanded a repeat on the south coast and is expecting his players to rise to the challenge.

City head to Hampshire just one point and two places above the relegation zone but, crucially, have played one less game than the teams currently occupying the bottom three.

Hampton and Richmond sit between them and the trap door but have three games in hand in their quest for survival.

Heeley, though, knows his team cannot afford to worry about what is going on around them.

He said: “We haven’t got to rely on other teams, our destiny is in our own hands and we have got a long way to go. We have got to pick up as many points as we can.

“Havant have had two good wins including a 1-0 victory at Eastleigh last weekend. I have had them watched so we know what we have got to play against.”