Brighton & Hove Albion manager Chris Hughton has suggested that all four players who suffered injuries against Sheffield Wednesday on Friday night will not recover in time for the second leg of their Championship playoff tie.
Tomer Hemed, Anthony Knockaert, Connor Goldson and Steve Sidwell all went off injured during the game at Hillsborough, and Wednesday took full advantage to run out 2-0 winners.
Brighton only narrowly missed out on automatic promotion to the Premier League last weekend but the result and injury setbacks have left the club with an uphill task to make the final at Wembley.
The 57-year-old is quoted by BBC Sport as saying: "The injuries were all substantial enough to go off and not one of them wanted to go off. At the moment I wouldn't be too optimistic about all four of them.
"I've never been involved in a game like that. We've gone through a decent period with injuries after a really tough period in the first half of the season, and whether it's the consistent games and the tempo we've had to play at in the last few weeks, I don't know.
"We have to be realistic enough to know it's going to be a tough task, but it is something that can be achieved."
The second leg of the tie takes place at the Amex Stadium on Monday evening.
Darren Plant
