ANDY Preece is facing his severest headache as Worcester City boss with five players injured for tomorrow's Midlands derby at Moor Green.

Crocked quintet Jai Stanley, Nick Colley, James Smith, George Clegg and Les Hines are all out, leaving Worcester stripped to the bare bones for the short trip to Solihull Borough's Damson Park ground.

Playmaker Jai Stanley undergoes a scan in Cheltenham today after discovering bad swelling on his right knee, with early signs indicating at least a month's lay-off.

Hines is unavailable for up to three weeks with a pulled thigh and Clegg needs a fortnight to recover from strained medial ligaments.

There was further bad news during City's 1-1 reserve draw against Stafford Rangers on Monday when young forward Smith cracked a bone in his neck.

Colley (hamstring) is the closest to a full return, but Preece is not keen to risk the winger following a tentative training session on Tuesday evening.

Captain Graham Hyde makes his comeback after missing the 1-0 defeat to Hucknall Town with 'flu, but the injury crisis leaves Worcester stretched.

One of City's left-footed academy graduates, Shabir Khan or Liam McDonald, will carry out the full-back role in place of Hines, but neither are fully comfortable in the position.

Khan is most likely to fill the void, with summer signing Danny Hodnett expected to make his full debut in central defence alongside Chris Smith and Des Lyttle.

Such is the lack of numbers, City have registered five of the club's youth-team players in time for the fixture.

"I'm scratching my head with the injuries," said Preece. "But we have to deal with it because it's part and parcel of football.

"You get good runs and bad runs. During our good run last season, we were lucky with injuries and got the rub of the green. At the moment, it makes it worse when they all come at once.

"The left-back position is something I'll have to have a good think about. Unfortunately, somebody will have to play in Les' position that is not entirely comfortable there. Liam and Shab are the obvious two.

"But we are struggling because if Liam fills in, it leaves us light in midfield and if Shab fills in, it leaves us short in defence.

"I was hoping to have Nick back but he struggled in training. His hamstring is still tight and that's something we cannot risk. We will wait and see, but I would have thought Nick was not ready to start."

Former Worcester goalkeeper James Coates will line up for Moor Green, although old-boy John Snape, a transfer target for AFC Telford, is suffering with a badly bruised hip.

Both sides are languishing in the bottom six of Nationwide North with just one win each.

City triumphed 2-1 in last season's corresponding fixture and Preece would be delighted with a repeat scoreline to fling his out-of-form side up the table.

Preece added: "It's a huge game for us and Moor Green. We've both got off to similar starts to the season, so even though it's a derby, you can't say the form book will go out of the window.

"We are looking for the result which will take us on a run. We are not far away."

n Redditch United entertain Droylsden in Nationwide North (3pm).