ANDOVER have three key players suspended for tomorrow's Hampshire derby at home to Lymington & New Milton in the Southern 1 South & West.
Defender Gary Middleton, utility man Ashley Vine and ex-Linnets winger Lee Chudy are all sin-binned for the 12th-versus-ninth clash.
Lions have also suffered their fair share of injuries with broken arm victim Dave Asker being joined on the sidelines by Adam Heath, Mark Hankey and influential midfield signing Glenn Howes.
"Those are four big players and we haven't been playing as well since they've been injured," admitted manager Ady Burford.
"But Kieran Hall has just come back and Jaz Chahal returned on Tuesday following an infected hole in the shin. I'm also hoping to get a couple in on loan."
Lions will find themselves up against the league's leading scorer, 17-goal James Stokoe tomorrow, but that does not unduly worry Burford.
He said: "Our defence has done pretty well and we've managed to keep most of the league's prolific marksman at bay.
"Richard Gillespie didn't score against us for Bashley, Steve Cook didn't score for Taunton Town on Tuesday and neither did Michael Chennels for Windsor & Eton, even though they beat us comfortably.
"Our defenders must be doing pretty well if they're not letting the top marksmen in the league score."
For Lymington, fit-again midfielder Kevin James should be involved on the bench tomorrow, while defender Toby Redwood is seeing a specialist and should be playing again in three weeks.
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