Hornchurch FC will have to roll up their sleeves to get through injury crisis ahead of a busy week, according to their manager Mark Stimson.
The Urchins will travel away to East Thurrock United on Saturday before then hosting Cheshunt and Leatherhead in the following week.
Rickie Hayles, Lewwis Spence, Sam Higgins, Joe Christou, Remi Sutton, Ellis Brown and Charlie Stimson have all been missing in recent matches through injury.
“I’m not sure we’re going to get many back, mabye one or two possibly. It’s come at a crazy time and we’ve been hit really bad,” Stimson said.
“We’ve picked up little injuries and the tally is getting higher. There were eight players that didn’t play that would have been involved, and that’s a massive loss for any team.
“We have to roll our sleeves up, the boys that have stepped in have given everything they have. We’ll dust ourselves down as we’ve got three league games coming up.
“The ones that are available will probably be selected as that’s how low we are, but normally you carry two or three injuries at a push, but to have this amount is crazy.
“East Thurrock away is not too far away, and should be a fantastic crowd.”
Hornchurch suffered a 2-0 defeat to league rivals Bowers & Pitsea in a replay at Bridge Avenue to crash out of the FA Cup.
Second-half strikes from Danny Norton and Bradley Sach meant the injury-hit Urchins missed out on the chance to host Aldershot Town in the fourth qualifying round of the FA Cup.
In the original match, the Urchins fought back from 2-0 down at the Len Salmon Stadium.
Bradley Sach scored the opener for Bowers and the hosts were soon 2-0 up after 36 minutes as an own goal doubled their advantage.
Another own goal gave the Urchins a lifeline seven minutes from time and they then equalised right at the death thanks to Ollie Muldoon, who earned them a replay.
“We’re very disappointed to go out, Saturday’s game we clawed ourselves back into it, I thought we deserved a draw on the day," Stimson said.
“Their goalkeeper was outstanding and made a couple of good saves, but that game we had five players out injured, and then we picked up another injury so we started the replay with six out so it was always going to be a tough task.
“It was probably just one game too many to be fair. We didn’t perform well and the injuries took their toll for the first time.”
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